The Doctor and Jessa
by TotallyInspired
Summary: She was pulled out of her world, sad with her existence. She lived young, while everybody around her grew old and died. Life was filled with books and being detached, until she met the Doctor. He was sad after war, swearing to close himself off fully to prevent the pain. Life was filled with running, until he met Jessa.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, I decided to write a new story since I had the idea. I haven't really read a story where a new companion goes along with Rose who isn't a time lady or related to Rose or knows the Doctor Who show. So I decided to write one, And I know that the backstory is vague, that's on purpose. You'll learn more as the Doctor does. Please read and review. Enjoy!**

 **I do not own Doctor Who or anything else besides my OC. If I did I wouldn't be here right now. :)**

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Her life had been a simple one. She grew up as the only girl in her family, after her mother had died. Her father and three older brothers had loved her unconditionally. They had a small home and not very much money, but they were content. The accident happened when she was twenty. It was a normal day for the family. They had left for the day to work, and she was left at home since the mines wouldn't hire girls. This had never really bothered her, because being alone gave her time to learn. She knew she wasn't supposed to be reading her brothers old school books, but she did in hopes to learn everything that she could. She was settling down with a science book when the door burst open. Thinking it was her father she went to greet him, but what she saw wasn't her father. In the doorway stood two men, and before she could think to scream they grabbed her, injecting her with something before she passed out. The empty house would be the scene that three brothers and their father returned to. They tried looking, but no clues were left behind. All they could do was pray for her safe return.

The next five years passed with pain. She had almost forgotten her name completely. She could vaguely recall that it started with a J. Life became blurry and she couldn't tell what was happening most days. That is, until one day where her focus was clear. She was alone in the same room she had woken up in all those years ago. It was rather clear that this was a good time to make an escape, so she did just that. There were guards patrolling the building but she was able to sneak by without getting caught. She never realized this, but she was extremely lucky that she wasn't supposed to be awake, otherwise she never would've made it out. When she made it out she picked a direction and ran. Her feet were bloody when she found a train station. She couldn't afford a ticket, but she did manage to take a map off of somebody. And she walked, and walked, and walked all the way home. When she saw her house she collapsed in relief and started crying. Her father saw her and ran out of the house screaming, "Jessa!" She nodded, now sobbing. Her father brought her inside and soothed her until she fell asleep.

The next day Jessa cleaned herself up, and her brothers, all of them now married, came home and there was a reunion. She wouldn't tell them what had happened, and they understood. There were only a few differences about her, she was more reserved than before and new people scared her. Her physical appearance hadn't changed at all except her brown hair being a little longer, and her once brown eyes were now a deep violet. Other than those things, it was like she never left. Life continued and for the next few years everybody was happy. However, it soon became apparent that Jessa wasn't growing older. There were no signs that she had even aged a day. This worried everybody, but passed it off as nothing until ten years later she still looked the same. It was hard for her to grasp the concept of never aging, and when she did, she locked herself in her room for days refusing to come out. She wouldn't grow and die with her family like she had planned. She would instead have to watch as they grew and she didn't.

It was with great pain and sadness that she watched her father grow into an old man and pass away. Next came her brothers, and they each held her hand as they went, telling her not to give up and to live a happy life however long it may be. But she couldn't, her family was dead. Her family line continued through her brothers, but she never introduced herself to them, not able to go through the pain of losing them. She sat in silence watching from afar for the next centuries.

One day, she was doing just that when a bright light blinded her. She cried out in pain and when she opened her eyes, she saw a place that was not her own. There were similarities to her home, but there were also major differences. She tapped on the shoulder of the person next to her and asked, "Excuse me? Could you tell me where I am perhaps?" The man turned around and in an accent that she hadn't heard before replied, "Why it's Chicago of course!"

She shook her head, having never heard of such a place, but replied anyways, "Of course. And what year is it?"

The man looked at her in concern. "1939, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, just forgot for a minute, thanks." She hurried off down the crowded street, and to the nearest library.

Unable to cope with her situation she read. It was her ultimate comfort. She learned that this place was in fact Earth, just not her Earth. It would explain why they spoke the same language, and that was what made it easier to accept what had happened even if she wasn't too sure herself. She got herself a job at that very same library, and an apartment down the street. It would be rare to see her without a book. She learned of this Earth's history and customs first, and after a few months you wouldn't be able to tell she was a foreigner. Next she learned what you would at school, this didn't take her long since it wasn't very different from her brother's schoolbooks. Then she read anything and everything she could get. After three years she moved, so people wouldn't get suspicious of her not aging. She stayed in the United States only for about 15 years before she traveled the world. She learned the languages and tried the food. In public she was kind and polite, but never getting attached. She wouldn't be able to stand the heartbreak. By 1980 she had been everywhere and could fluently speak just about anything. Her skills in science and math were unparalleled. History was top notch. Literature and cooking however, were not her thing. She dabbled in both but neither was something she could be an expert in. She had just moved to London in the flat under Rose Tyler when she met the Doctor.

-9-

The Tyler's were nice enough people Jessa decided. She had a few conversations with them and they were average. That was fine with Jessa, would help her not get attached. She was just sitting down with a book when a crash from above startled her. Concerned about the noise she went upstairs to ask if they were ok. She brought her hand up to knock when the door swung open and a man wearing a leather jacket came jogging out without looking and bumped into her. He looked at her, "And who're you?"

"Name's Jessa, I just came up to see what that crash was. I think it's safe to assume that you had something to do with it by the way you were just running?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

'Oh I like her' he thought, and he grinned. "Yep perfectly sound assumption, now do excuse me Jessa I must be taking my leave." Shooting her a last wave he took off down the stairs. A voice from the stairway made him turn around.

"Hold on a minute, you just can't go swanning off." The Doctor rolled his eyes at Rose.

"Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" Rose shook her head, "That arm was moving. It tried to kill me!"

Jessa was now interested. She had been standing thinking she was in the middle of the most awkward moment of her life between a couple, but maybe there was something to this. Either Rose was mad, or something intriguing was going on. It had been a while since she had a good mystery. She studied the man who never gave his name, and asked. "Moving arm?"

The Doctor was about to groan at having another one asking him questions when he saw her. Her brown hair went down to the middle of her back. She was wearing jeans tucked into black boots, and a long black sweater. And her eyes. Either she was wearing contacts or had the most unnatural eyes that a human could have. That shade of violet doesn't exist naturally. That wasn't what made him pause though, it was her stare. It wasn't really cold but calculating, like she could decipher his secrets by looking. He wasn't going to test this theory and waved again, "Yep, now I have to go." And with that he turned around and was down the stairs before either could blink.

Both girls followed him, but this time it was Rose who spoke. "Alright then, I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone, you said if I did that I'd get people killed. So you're choice. Tell me ore I'll start talking."

Jessa rolled her eyes, "Really you're going to threaten to kill people if he doesn't answer your questions? Was that supposed to sound tough?"

"Sort of."

The Doctor cut in, "Doesn't work."

Rose ignored us both and looked over at the Doctor, "Who are you?"

"I told you! The Doctor." Now it was Jessa's turn to cut in.

"And what was that about moving arms?"

"It's called living plastic, moved by thought control."

"Okay." Jessa turned around and walked off. The Doctor stared at her in surprise.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, I wanted your name and what that was about moving arms. I found out and now I'm good. You obviously don't want to answer my questions, and who am I to make you? I have no claim to demand answers so I'll be on my way." This time she did turn around and she walked back up the stairs. The Doctor was shocked to say the least. Nobody had done that before. He turned around, not even registering Rose yelling at him. He stepped into the TARDIS, and flew away. Rose looked rather put out and stormed up the stairs. She had research to do.

-9-

Jessa went back into her apartment and thought about what she had learned. The Doctor was interesting, his eyes were older than he was. She knew this because she saw the same thing when she looked in the mirror. What he said made sense, it was obviously something alien. She wasn't naïve enough to think that the Earth was alone in the universe. Researching aliens and space had become sort of a past time for her. The Doctor's name came up sometimes, and she had a feeling that this was the same man. Content with her findings she sat down and read the book she picked out earlier.

A few hours later she got hungry, and decided that there was nothing in her flat that sounded good. She decided to go to one of her favorite pizza places. When she arrived, she sat down and pulled out her menu. A familiar voice filled the shop as the voice opened once more. Jessa sighed, it wasn't that she didn't like Rose but the girl felt like she was entitled to all of the answers. 'Ah well, she'll grow out of it with age.' Rose walked over to her table and sat down without asking. Jessa immediately noticed that the boy Rose was with was not a boy, but rather plastic. 'This must be what the Doctor was referring to.'

Rose, seeing she was being ignored on all her questions to Jessa, turned to Mickey. "Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then…dishing out chips….I could do A levels. I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up. What do you think?"

Mickey, who had been wearing a creepy plastic grin the whole time said, "So, where did you meet this Doctor?"

Rose looked at him annoyed, "I'm sorry wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Jessa was doing all she could not to laugh. How did Rose not see that this was not her friend? She thought it should be rather obvious.

Not Mickey just continued on, "Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Did he have something to do with that?"

"No…"

"Come on!"

Rose looked at him suspiciously, "Sort of."

Not Mickey was looking as if he won the lottery, "What was he doing there?"

"I'm not going on about him Mickey, I'm not. Because I know it sounds daft but… I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous."

"But you can trust me sweetheart!" He started twitching. "Babe, sugar darling, sugar." Jessa couldn't take it and started giggling quietly, amusement dancing in her eyes. She didn't see The Doctor staring at her in amusement and a little bit of suspicion. He walked up to the table, "Your champagne."

Jessa looked up to see The Doctor, he looked and winked at her. Not Mickey didn't even look up, "We didn't order champagne." He grabbed Rose. "Where's the Doctor?"

The Doctor walked over to Rose, "Ma'am your Champagne."

Rose also didn't look up, much to the enjoyment of Jessa, "It's not ours….Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?" And the willpower it took for Jessa not to roll her eyes was astounding.

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?"

The Doctor looked exasperated, "Doesn't anybody want this champagne?"

Not Mickey finally looked up, "Look, we didn't order it…. Ah gotcha!"

The Doctor started shaking the bottle, "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple." He looked at Jessa, "And friend. On the house!" The corked popped and hit Not Mickey on the forehead, he absorbed the cork and spit it out. Rose gasped.

Not Mickey said "Anyway," His hands turned into clubs and smashed the tables. Rose and Jessa backed out of the way. Rose a lot more frantically than Jessa. The Doctor grabbed Not Mickey's head and pulled it off. "Don't think that's gonna stop me." Jessa ran over to the fire alarm and pulled it.

"Get out, everybody needs to leave!" The Doctor, Jessa, and Rose ran through the kitchen and out the back exit. The Doctor locked the metal door behind the group. And Rose looked around for an escape. Jessa looked at the blue box with interest.

"Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!" Rose shouted.

The Doctor held up what he was holding, "What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver."

"Use it!"

The Doctor shook his head, "Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here." He gestured to the blue box that Jessa had been staring at. Rose ran in after he unlocked, and ran back out. She circled the box, and the Not Mickey made a hole in the door, so she ran back in. The Doctor watched her amused and looked to Jessa, who shrugged and walked in herself. He followed her and shut the door.

Jessa looked around while the Doctor was explaining the head thing to Rose. She tuned back in at the Doctor saying "Where do you want to start."

Rose said "It's bigger on the inside." At the same time Jessa said, "It's not blue."

The Doctor looked at her confused, "What?"

"Well, the outside is blue, why not the inside. Makes more sense to me."

The Doctor looked at her with an amused smirk before turning back to Rose, "Yes it's bigger."

"It's alien."

"Yup."

"Are you alien?"

"Yes, is that alright?"

Rose nodded quickly, "Yeah."

The Doctor grinned before looking at Jessa, "Jessa?"

"Oh yeah that's marvelous."

The Doctor grinned again, "It's called the TARDIS, this thing T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Jessa nodded her understanding, while Rose started sobbing. "That's okay. Culture shock, happens to the best of us."

Rose looked up desperately, "Did the kill him? Mickey? Is he dead?"

The Doctor looked sheepish, "Oh, didn't think of that." Jessa rolled her eyes at him.

Rose kept on sobbing, "He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?!" And indeed, the head which the Doctor set on the TARDIS console was melting. He ran around trying to stop keep the signal, when the TARDIS shook and he grinned. He ran outside, despite Rose's cries of "Wait!" Both she and Jessa followed him.

They were now next to the Thames. Rose looked in amazement, and Jessa was looking with growing interest while her mind was working the possibilities out. The Doctor was frustrated, "I lost the signal, I got so close."

"We've moved! Does it fly?" Rose asked. To her and the Doctor's surprise, it was Jessa who answered.

"It's much more likely that it disappears and then reappears." The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah she's right."

Rose suddenly looked devastated, "I'll have to tell his mother." At the two questioning gazes she was receiving she said, "Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you two forgot him!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and Jessa had the decency to look a little ashamed.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey…."

Rose interrupted him, "Yeah he's not a kid." Jessa sighed again.

"Yes, he is. So are you. But, if he did forget Mickey, then it's probably for good reason."

They stared at her again, before she sighed for what felt like the millionth time, "How do we stop the whatever it is?"

That shook them both out of their daze, the Doctor grinned "Anti-plastic! But first we've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?'

Jessa looked at him, "What is it? And what does it look like?"

"It's a transmitter. The consciousness is using Earth as dinner, and is controlling every single piece of plastic on it, so it needs a transmitter to the boost the signal. It should be round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London."

Jessa pointed at the London Eye, "Like that?"

He turned but didn't see anything, "Like what?"

She pointed again, "That!"

He stared before he realized what she was talking about, "Oh, Fantastic!" He took off running towards it, after grabbing both of their hands, forcing them to run with him. They stopped right in front of it, "Think of it. Plastic all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables…"

Rose shuddered, "The breast implants."

She was ignored, "Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

They spotted a manhole and ran over to it. They lifted the lid and climbed down the ladder into a dark room. They walked into the chamber connected to the room they found themselves in. In the middle of the room was a wobbling orange mass. The Doctor pointed at it, "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."

"Well then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Said Rose.

Jessa stared at her, "We can't do that. It's alive, we have to give it a chance."

The Doctor beamed at her and nodded. They walked down some more steps towards the mass. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

Jessa had no idea what this meant, but the Consciousness did as it made noises at him.

"Thank you, might I have permission to approach?"

Rose saw Mickey in the background and rushed over to him. The Doctor rolled his eyes, but Jessa smiled softly. She saw that they cared for each other, and was happy for them. "Oh my God! Mickey! It's okay, it's alright." She soothed.

Mickey looked frightened, "That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!"

Rose scrunched her nose, "You're stinking! Doctor, they kept him alive!"

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy." He shrugged.

Jessa looked at him disapprovingly. "You should have told her Doctor." He frowned but kept quiet, and turned around to look at the Nestene Consciousness.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

The reply was a low garble.

"Oh. Don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!" More garbling followed. "I…am…talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking on their behalf-please just go."

Four autons appeared behind them and grabbed Jessa and the Doctor. One of them pulled out the anti-plastic from the Doctor's pocket. He looked pleading, "That was just insurance! I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not…..what do you mean?" Suddenly the doors above them opened to reveal the TARDIS. "Oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that my ship." More angry garbling. "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war, it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them." Rose cut in to their conversation.

"What's it doing!"

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion. Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!" Rose called her mom while he looked at Jessa. "I'm sorry Jessa."

She looked him in the eye, "It's alright, I made my peace a long time ago. I've lived long enough." What she didn't tell him was that she wasn't even sure if this would kill her or not. He looked at her oddly, but pushed the thought to the back of his head, there were more important things to do right now.

He yelled, "Get out Rose!" She made to do just that but the stairs collapsed. She turned to try the TARDIS, "I haven't got the key."

Mickey screamed, "We're gonna die!"

Rose looked around and stood up grabbing an axe, "I've got no A levels. No job. No future. But I'll tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team." She chopped a nearby chain and grabbed it. "I got bronze!" She held on to the chain and swung over the Consciousness and into the autons, knocking them into the vat with the anti-plastic."

The Doctor grinned, "Now we're in trouble." The Nestene started to explode, and they all ran into the TARDIS. They disappeared as everything exploded.

When they reappeared in an alley Mickey ran out looking terrified. Rose stepped out calmly and called her mom. The Doctor and Jessa stepped out grinning like mad.

The Doctor snapped his fingers, "Nestene consciousness? Easy."

Rose looked over teasingly, "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."

"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off! Unless, I don't know… you could come with me."

Jessa smiled at them and turned to leave. "Hey Jessa," He called. "The offer is for you too." She stopped and turned around looking, he noted, very surprised. He frowned at that, she shouldn't look that shocked. She gave him a smile, "I'd love to!" And she walked past him into the TARDIS. Rose declined very reluctantly and the Doctor walked back inside over to the console.

Jessa looked at him with a smirk, "We're going back, aren't we?"

He nodded, and stepped back outside. A grinning Rose ran in after him. The Doctor pulled the lever and they were off.

-9-

They were both in the console room. Rose went to sleep a few hours ago. When Jessa stopped aging, she noticed that she didn't need as much sleep as normal humans. Only 2-3 hours a night. So they sat in a comfortable silence, until the Doctor spoke up, "Are you an alien. I mean you look human, but you know a lot and you act as if you've seen so much. Not that I mind if you are, it just I would like to know."

He was rambling now, and Jessa started laughing softly, "No Doctor, I was born on Earth as a human." Which was true, it just wasn't this Earth. She also didn't know if she counted as human now, but she was born as one for sure.

The Doctor looked a bit embarrassed, "Yeah, of course just checking. But there is something about you that's different. What is it?"

She smirked but didn't deny it, "Now if I told you that, where would all the fun be. It's good to not know everything. Leaves a little unpredictability in life. Good night Doctor." She headed towards her room, leaving the Doctor to watch her with a matching smirk.


	2. The End of the World

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading chapter 1, hoped you liked it. About updating, I try and update every weekend, sometimes that can't happen, but most weekends there's a new chapter.**

 **About Rose: Her feelings for the Doctor won't really be any different than how they were in the show. She'll be jealous, but won't be as awful as other stories had made her be when the Doctor fell in love with somebody else. As for the Doctor's feelings towards her, Spoilers!**

 **Here's chapter 2, Enjoy!**

 _ **Italics mean mind speak.**_

 **I don't own Doctor Who.**

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The next morning saw Jessa and the Doctor in the console room. She was reading a book on very advanced physics. He walked up behind her, "Advanced Physics, really good for light reading." He teased.

She looked at him, closing her book, "I suppose it is, haven't read this version yet, so I thought why not?"

That was something that he had noticed, she knew things most people didn't at her age. He started a discussion on physics to see just how much she knew, and he was thoroughly impressed. Not as much as him of course, but still enough to make him think about his answers. They were so engrossed in their little debate that neither noticed when Rose walked in until she cleared her throat. They both jumped at her arrival, and the Doctor quickly ran over to the console. "Right then, Rose Tyler, Jessa, you tell me where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. What's it going to be?"

He saw Rose look back at Jessa, who smiled and gestured for Rose to pick. "Forwards." He ran around the console pressing buttons.

"How far?"

Rose picked the first number off the top of her head, "One hundred years." He grinned and pulled a few levers, and the engines stopped.

"There you go, step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century." Rose looked shocked, and Jessa had a smile on her face with a spark of interest in her eyes. He smirked.

"That's a bit boring though, do you want to go further?"

"Fine by me!" Rose was all but bouncing in excitement. He messed with some knobs and buttons before looking up at them again.

"Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005. The New Roman Empire." Rose grinned teasingly, "You think you're so impressive."

"I am so impressive." Jessa looked up from her book, which at some point she had picked up again.

"Careful there Doctor, sounds like that ego of yours is in danger of growing impossibly larger." He pretended to be offended before mock-glaring.

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go." He started up the engines again. "Hold on!" The TARDIS shook before coming to a stop with a ding. Rose stared at the door.

"Where are we?" The Doctor gestured at the door. "What's out there?" Another gesture, and Rose ran out the door, with Jessa and the Doctor following behind. The room was wooden, and the Doctor came over and opened one of the shutters, when it was gone they saw Earth below them. The Doctor looked over and saw Rose's awed expression, and Jessa's….What was it? He could almost call it sad, but there was a fondness in there as well. Either way he reached down and grabbed her hand. And if either of them noticed that their hands fit perfectly together neither mentioned it. The Doctor turned his gaze down.

"You lot, you spend your all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day….hold on" He looked at his watch, "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

-9-

They were walking down one of the corridors, with the Doctor and Jessa still holding hands because neither one had noticed that they were still doing it yet, listening to an intercom announcement when Rose asked, "So, when it says guests does that mean people?"

The Doctor thought for a fraction of a second, "Depends on what you mean by people."

"I mean people, what do you mean?"

"Aliens."

Jessa spoke up, "What are they all doing on the ship, I mean obviously to watch the Earth go, but why do have such an interest?"

"They don't really, mostly just for fun." Jessa shook her head as they headed into an observation gallery.

"All the great and the good are here to watch the Earth burn, mind you when I say 'the great and the good' what I mean is, the rich." This earned another sad shake from Jessa.

"But hold on," this came from Rose. "They did this once on 'Newsround Extra,' the sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years.

The Doctor nodded, "Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See that down there?" He pointed out the window. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun."

Jessa was curious, "Haven't the continents shifted by now?"

He nodded again, "They did and the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!" Rose was saddened by the fact.

"How long has it got?" he Doctor glanced at his watch.

"About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted."

Rose looked up in understanding, "Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"

Jessa looked over at her, "I hope that's not why we're here, Rose. Everything has it's time, and the Earth has lived on longer than it naturally should have. It's the Earth's time." The Doctor looked at her only by what can be described as awe. He'd never met a human who understood death as well as she did, because what she said was completely right. If he couldn't see her home planet, he would've thought that she had watched it die. Because, it's only then that you understand that everything must go sometime.

Rose stared at them in disbelief, "But what about the people?"

"It's empty! They're all gone. All left." Exclaimed the Doctor.

Rose looked at Jessa, "Just us then." Their discussion was cut short by an angry steward approaching them.

"Who the hell are you?"

Jessa rolled her eyes, "Love the hospitality they've got here."

The Doctor chuckled, but the steward ignored that comment, "But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!"

"That's me, I'm a guest look! I've got an invitation!" He pulled a leather wallet out of his pocket, and opened it toward the steward. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor, that's Jessa and Rose Tyler. They're my plus two. That all right?"

The steward faltered, "Well obviously. Apologies, et cetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. Enjoy." The Doctor nodded his head and showed them both a blank piece of paper. Rose, however, saw writing on it saying that they were guests, while Jessa still saw nothing.

"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want to see. Saves a lot of time."

"He's blue" Rose pointed out.

They both looked at her, "Yeah."

"Okay…" She said. The steward walked up to a microphone.

"We have in attendance the Doctor, Jessa, and Rose Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions." He clapped his hands and more blue people started running around. "Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honored guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The three mentioned walked through the doors before the steward continued, "There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors of Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor smiled, while Rose and Jessa looked a little overwhelmed. "And next from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme." The Doctor chuckled at the look on his companions' faces. The list kept going on when Jabe approached the three.

"The gift of peace." She took a pot with a little plant in it from a tray behind her. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."

He grabbed it before handing it off to Rose, "Thank you! Yes, gifts….erm…." He started feeling around his pockets, but found nothing. "I give you, in return, air from my lungs." This earned an eye roll and a sigh from Jessa. He blew onto Jabe's face. She blushed.

"How…intimate."

"There's more where that came from." He said flirtatiously, this caused Jessa to chuckle and he winked at her.

"I bet there is…" Rose looked as though she might faint after watching the Doctor flirt with a tree.

The steward spoke up again, "Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe."

A huge head in a jar was pushed through the doors. Jessa tuned out the Moxx of Balhoon in front of her when she heard a voice in her head,

' _Hello my Jessalyn.'_ She looked over at the Face of Boe, just knowing it was him. She thought back, _Hello, I suppose this means we will meet in the future then? Because I would remember meeting you"_

 _He chuckled 'Very accurate, I forgot how sad you used to be. Don't worry my Jessalyn happier times are coming. Everything will work out. I miss your company, but I think your friend is calling you. We will meet again my Jessalyn.'_

She snapped out of her trance and heard a "..sa?" She looked up and saw the Doctor's worried face looking at her.

"I'm fine just zoned out." She reassured. He didn't look convinced but let it drop. He turned around in time for the steward to announce, "And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees, and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human."

The Doctor turned around to watch their reactions as a vertical trampoline made of skin was wheeled through the doors. It had eyes and a mouth. Rose looked absolutely disgusted, while Jessa looked disgusted, interested, and amused at the same time. The steward continued, "The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Cassandra started speaking, "Oh now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am." This got a quiet chuckle out of the Doctor. "Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the men who entered with her sprayed her with a canister. "Truly, I am the last human. My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil. I have come to honor them and say goodbye." She started sniffling, while Rose had started circling around her to get a better look. "Oh, no tears. No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg." One of the staff brought in the egg while Cassandra continued.

"Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils." Rose made a confused face at this, while Jessa covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Or was that my third husband?" The Doctor chuckled but Rose and Jessa rolled their eyes. "Who knows! Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" She laughed and behind her a large jukebox was being rolled into the room.

"And here," she continued. "another rarity. According to the archives this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." One of the staff pressed play, and 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell started playing. The Doctor started dancing around to the music. Jessa couldn't stop laughing, while Rose still looked confused. The steward interrupted them again.

"Refreshments will be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." Rose looked lost, and ran out of the room. The Doctor and Jessa started following her when they were stopped by Jabe.

"Doctor?" She took a photo of him. "Thank you." The two looked at each other, and started back towards where Rose went. They came across a viewing gallery. The Doctor paused.

"Rose, are you in there?" They walked in and saw her sitting on the stairs, so they went and sat beside her. "What do you think then?"

Rose frowned, "Great! Yeah, once you get past the slightly psychic paper." The Doctor laughed and there was a pause before Rose continued, "They're just so alien. The aliens"

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South."

"Where are you from?"

"All over the place."

"They all speak English."

"No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain, translates. Jessa saw that a fight was about to happen so she intervened.

"Isn't that cheating?" The Doctor shot her a questioning look. "I mean you never have to learn the languages like other people do, so isn't that cheating?" She smirked. The Doctor laughed, and the previously heavy mood vanished. A computer announcement started talking.

"Earth death in 20 minutes. Earth death in 20 minutes." Rose sighed and pulled out her phone.

"Can't exactly call for a taxi….. there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!"

He took the phone from her. "Tell you what." He put a new battery in the back and handed it to her. "There you go." She turned around to call her mom. The Doctor turned toward Jessa and held out his hand.

"What?"

"Your Phone?" He looked at her as though that should have been obvious.

"Oh, I don't have one."

"What?" He said as if that was the most surprising thing ever. She shrugged.

"Never needed one. Didn't have anybody to call or anything, so what's the point." She looked indifferent about that fact, and the Doctor looked at her with sadness. He grabbed her hand again without thinking about it, just as Rose hung up the phone.

"That was 5 billion years ago. So….she's dead now. Five billion years later, my mum's dead." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Bundle of laughs you are." The ship started shaking and the Doctor grinned, "That's not supposed to happen." They walk into the gallery. "That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets, and they don't feel like that." He started fiddling with controls when Jabe walked up to them, "What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines, they pitched up about 30 Hertz, is that dodgy or what."

Jessa frowned, "30? That's not even a little good." The Doctor beamed at her then nodded.

He turned back to Jabe, "Where's the engine room?"

"I don't know….but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suites. I could show you, and…" She gestured towards Jessa, "…your wife." The Doctor looked at her.

"She's not my wife." Jabe didn't believe the two, she had seen them. The way they work together, and are always holding hands, but she let it drop.

Rose, not being part of the conversation went to go talk to Cassandra. She turned around, "And I want you two home by midnight!" They both grinned and saluted before walking off with Jabe. They were walking down the maintenance corridor when the Doctor asked,

"Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a captain or what?"

Jabe immediately replied, "There's just the steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by metal man."

"A computer? But who controls that?" Asked Jessa.

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another." The Doctor was silent for a moment.

"But there's no one from the corporation on board."

"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

Jessa caught the irony in that and grinned, "Unsinkable?"

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jessa, "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Fantastic!" He kept walking, "So, tell me Jabe. What's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"

"Respect for the Earth."

"Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions."

"Well perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions." She paused, "I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable you even exist. I just want to say how sorry I am." The Doctor looked as though he were about to cry. Jessa was confused, but saw that now was not the right time to be asking questions.

The Doctor turned around and kept walking. He found a panel and opened it. Out fell a little mechanical spider. "Now then. Who's been bringing pets on board?" Jessa looked at it.

"What does it do?"

"Sabotage." He paused, "And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on!"

Jabe had gone and helped some staff, so Jessa and the Doctor ran along a corridor where all the sun filter's had been descending. They came across a closed room. The Doctor ran up to it. "Anyone in there?"

They heard Rose pounding on the door, "Let me out!" The Doctor sighed.

"Oh, well, it would be you." The Doctor messed with the controls before just jamming his screwdriver into the controls.

"Sun filter rising." They all let out a collective breath. Rose went to go open the door, but she couldn't.

"The whole thing is jammed. I can't open the doors. Stay there! Don't move!" said the Doctor.

Jessa rolled her eyes. "Where's she gonna go? Ipswich?" The Doctor grabbed her hand, and they both ran back to where everybody else was.

Jabe was reading off a screen, "The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one." Cassandra started panicking.

"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall." She looked around, "Moisturize me. Moisturize me." Jessa rolled her eyes and turned to the Doctor.

"If I ever become like that I need you to push me into the sun. It won't be murder, consider it my final wishes." The Doctor started laughing as he nodded.

"Will do." He walked over to Jabe and took the spider out of her hand.

"Summon the steward!" Cried the Moxx of Balhoon.

Jabe looked grim, "I'm afraid the steward is dead." There was a collective gasp after that.

The Moxx called out, "Who killed him?"

Cassandra called out that it 'had to be the Face of Boe.' And Jessa felt like she had to defend him, so she did just that. "Listen here, blaming people isn't going to help anyone, but if you are going to continue to do so, you better not blame him or you'll have to deal with me!" Everyone looked at her shocked, except for the Face of Boe who smiled in gratitude and amusement. The Doctor looked at her confused but pulled her back towards him.

"No need for that. Easy way of finding out. Someone brought a little pet on board. Let's send them back to Master." He placed the spider on the ground, and it went towards Cassandra and stopped for a minute before continuing on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

Cassandra gasped dramatically, "The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!"

The Doctor was getting annoyed at her, "That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it…" They go to strike him, but the Doctor catches the arm and pulls it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." He ripped out a wire and they all collapsed. Everybody gasped again except, ironically, Cassandra.

The Doctor went on, "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker." He nudged the spider. "Go on Jimbo!" The spider went over to Cassandra again, but this time it stopped.

Cassandra glared, "I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." Both the Doctor and Jessa raised their eyebrows at her. The two bodyguards on her sides raised their canisters at everybody.

The Doctor raised his hands in mock-surrender. "What are you going to do, moisturize me?"

Cassandra nodded, "With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. I'm not just a pretty face."

"Yes bringing down a ship while you're inside it. I'm definitely seeing the 'more than the pretty face' thing." Jessa added.

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." She had a dreamy look in her eyes at the thought of the money.

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money." The Doctor said, disappointed.

"It's not cheap looking like this, Doctor. But well you're just as useful dead, all of you. Spiders activate." They all heard explosions around the ship. "Buh-bye, darlings! Buh- bye!" Cassandra said as her and her bodyguard's teleported out.

The computer voice rung out through the ship, "Heat levels rising."

"Reset the computer." Someone shouted.

Jabe shook her head, "Only the steward would know how."

The Doctor and Jessa both shook their heads, the former saying, "No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, Jessa, come on!"

So, they ran back through the maintenance halls, the computer reminding them of the critical heat levels. They reached the ventilation chamber and looked for the switch, when the Doctor spotted it. "Oh. And guess where the switch is." The switch in question was on the other side of enormous swinging fans that one would have to pass to get to it. The Doctor pulled a lever down and the fans slowed, but once he let go, they sped up again. Jabe took the lever and held it down.

The Doctor looked at her sadly, "You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place."

She was about to answer when Jessa spoke up, "That's why she won't be doing it, I will." They both protested to this but she just spoke calmly. "It's the best choice, Doctor you have to go through to the other side, and Jabe you'll die. I'll be uncomfortable, but overall okay." They both agreed it was the best plan, but neither was happy about it. As Jabe was running out of the room, she turned around.

"Good Luck Time-Lord." The Doctor grinned at her, and then nodded at Jessa. Jessa pulled down on the lever, and the fans slowed and it got a lot hotter. The Doctor passed through the first fan, and looked back at Jessa who was breathing heavily. He turned back and passed through the next fan.

He looked at the third one, and then heard a scream. Turning back around he saw Jessa shaking and her hands were completely red. She bit out, "Hurry up Doctor." Nodding to her he turned around and passed through the final fan. He ran and pulled down the lever. Jessa let go of her lever immediately, and fell to the ground. He ran back through the fans to her and saw her standing up.

"You ok?" He grimaced at his own stupid question. Her hands were red on the verge of turning black, and there were tears in her eyes.

She laughed shakily, "Been better, but it'll heal. Let's go see how everybody else is." She took off her sweater, leaving just the tank top, and wrapped her hands in it. She started walking out, not noticing the Doctor's red face.

When they got back to the observation gallery, they saw Rose sitting with Jabe and nodded at them. The Doctor walked towards them, while Jessa went and sat next to the Face of Boe, talking with him telepathically.

Rose and Jabe asked at the same time, "You alright?"

The Doctor who was noticeably upset said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." He went over to the ostrich egg and broke it open, a teleportation feed fell out. "Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twisted it and Cassandra reappeared, not even noticing she'd left wherever she was.

The Doctor said distastefully, "The Last Human."

Cassandra looked at him, flustered, "So. You passed my little test. Bravo you're eligible to join the human club."

The Doctor glared, "People have died. You murdered them." He looked at Jessa and Jabe. "More people could've died because of you."

"That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter…"

The Doctor looked at her, "And creak?"

"And what?"

"Creak! You're creaking." And she was. Her skin was tightening.

"What! AH! I'm drying out! Moisturize me!"

The Doctor watched on, "You raised the temperature."

"Have pity!"

Rose walked up, "Help her."

Jessa walked up as well, "Even if he could, he shouldn't. Everything dies Rose, it's more than Cassandra's time." And as she said that, Cassandra exploded.

-9-

Jessa had finished talking with a very grateful Jabe, and went to find the Doctor and Rose. She saw them looking down at the Earth in what looked like a very emotional discussion. She decided not to interrupt and went and sat in front of the front of the TARDIS, thinking. This had been the most fun she had in a long time, but did she want to keep doing it? If she kept doing this, she'd grow attached to both Rose and the Doctor. She didn't know how long Time-Lords lived, but Rose was human. Humans only lived so long after all. When she came to this world she promised not to care for anyone because it hurt too much to let them go. But it was a sad existence she lived. Maybe, just maybe, it was time to try again. Consequences can be dealt with later. She looked up and saw the Doctor and Rose walking toward her hand in hand. The Doctor looked down at her.

"You coming?"

She smiled, "Yeah I think I am."

-9-

After the Doctor had healed Jessa's hands, they went out for chips in the 21st century, the Doctor told them about his planet and the war, before hopping back in the TARDIS. Rose went to bed leaving just Jessa and the Doctor. She spoke up. "Is this going to become tradition, after an adventure, just us hanging around the console?"

"There have been worse traditions."

She smiled, "Yeah." Then seemingly out of nowhere, "My dad raised me and my three brothers by himself. I never realized how impressive that was until I grew up. My oldest brother, Tim, helped out with the payments, but my dad never let him do too much. Claimed that childhood was not meant to be spent working." She smiled, "I was my dad's princess. He would've done anything for me that I asked. He taught me to read and write, and we'd always do these puzzles together. Now that I look back at it, I realize he hated puzzles, but I loved them, so he'd do them without complaint and with a smile. He died of old age a while back, and when he did I cried for months, he was the most important thing to me in the world." She wiped the tears out of her eyes, and looked at the Doctor.

"I know you don't like to talk about your planet with anyone, let alone Rose and I. And I really appreciate that you trusted us enough to do so back there. So, there's one of my most precious memories. Not as a trade, but to show that I trust you and want you to know that you can do the same with me."

The Doctor looked at her with a soft smile, and with gratitude and appreciation in his eyes. He got up and sat next to her. He started to tell her a story of when he was younger. Then, it would be her turn. They went back and forth for hours. The Doctor telling her about Gallifrey and his adventures with other companions. In return she would talk about her travels around the world, and even some about her brothers. Neither knew what it was that made so easy to talk to the other, it just was. After one particularly funny story the Doctor looked at Jessa.

"Why weren't you shocked earlier with all the aliens, or anything really."

She smiled sadly, "When you have had the biggest shock of your life, Doctor, everything else doesn't seem quite so shocking anymore. Sure, aliens are surprising, but I've long since accepted that we aren't alone in the universe."

He saw that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he just grabbed her hand and they laid down side by side listening to the hum of the TARDIS.


	3. The Unquiet Dead

**A/N: Hey Guys! I have chapter 3 ready for today. I hope you like it. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing the last one.**

 **Reviews: First, thanks for reviewing. Second, I won't say anything about the Dalek episode since it's coming up pretty soon anyways, but good guess about what happens. And then about Jessa, her age and what happened to her, a lot will be revealed soon. Fathers Day is a very important episode for that stuff.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Jessa**

 **Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think.**

* * *

The TARDIS was shaking uncontrollably, leaving all three of her passengers to hang on for dear life. A few alarms were even going off in the background. The Doctor pointed at Rose and then at lever. "Hold that one down!"

"I'm holding this one down!" She shouted.

"Well," He pointed to Jessa. "Hold down that blue one."

She sighed, "This isn't going to work."

He pulled an offended expression, "Oi! I promised you both a time machine, and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"

Rose looked curious, "What happened in 1860?"

"I don't know, let's find out. Hold on here we go!" The TARDIS started screeching and shaking.

Jessa said, as she was hanging on, "You know, I'm about 98% sure that the TARDIS was not designed to be this bumpy of a ride. In fact, I'm willing to bet she could fly beautifully with a competent pilot."

"OI!" The Doctor cried indignantly, while Rose giggled.

-9-

The TARDIS materialized in a deserted alley that was covered in snow.

-9-

Inside the TARDIS, the controls were steaming. All three were on the floor laughing. "Blimey!" Rose said between gasps.

The Doctor grinned, "You're telling me! Are you two alright?"

Rose nodded in the affirmative, while Jessa said, "I'll let you know when the room stops spinning. Now where are we?"

He checked the screen, "I did it! Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860." Then as an afterthought, "See Jessa, I am a perfectly competent pilot."

She stood up, "I'll believe it when I see it." She said teasingly. Rose, not wanting to be left out of the conversation stepped next to them.

"That's so weird….it's Christmas." The Doctor pointed at the door.

"All yours."

She stopped, "But, it's like…think about it though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, and it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago…no wonder you never stay still."

The Doctor shrugged, "Not a bad life."

Rose smiled, "Better with tw…three." She started running towards the door. "Come on then!"

He stopped her before she could open the doors, "Oi, oi, oi! Where do you think you're going?"

Rose stared at him as if he were joking, "1860!"

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!" Rose dashed off, and the Doctor looked at Jessa. "That means you too. Get going!" She playfully rolled her eyes before heading down the corridor as well.

Jessa made a stop to her room first, she was wearing her favorite boots, and refused to get them lost in the wardrobe. She opened the door and smiled at her room. It was pretty simple, the floors were a dark brown, and the walls were a light lavender. In the middle lied a white bed with silver designs. It was almost an exact replica of her room from when she was little. There was even a white desk sitting in the corner. The first time she saw it, she had cried for almost an hour.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she walked over to the closet and opened it. She gasped at the dress hanging there. It was an off white with gold at the neck and the long sleeves. There was also gold swirls running up the bottom of the dress. She silently thanked the TARDIS and got a happy hum in reply. She stepped into the dress, and slipped on some gold flats. She left her hair down in its natural waves, and walked out the door and headed towards the console room.

-9-

The Doctor was working on the console when he heard an amused voice from behind him, "How come you haven't changed Doctor?"

He turned around, "I've changed my jump….." He trailed off as he looked at the person in front of him. He forgot how to breathe for a minute, let alone speak. Her dress was simple, but wonderfully beautiful.

"Doctor?" He shook his head.

"You look stunning Jessa." She blushed.

"Thank you. And might I add, that the jumper change has made all the difference for you." Her eyes were filled with mirth.

"Yes, well I do clean up rather well don't I?" He said while straightening his jacket.

"Careful there Doctor, we have to keep that head in check." He was about to give a witty retort when Rose stepped in.

He smiled, "You look beautiful Rose….considering."

"Considering what?"

"That you're human."

"Don't listen to him Rose, you look amazing." And Jessa really thought she did. The dark purple suited her really well. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Come on, then!"

Rose turned on him, "You stay there! You've done this before. This is mine!" She ran out the TARDIS doors. The Doctor held out his arm for Jessa.

"Shall we?" She took the offered arm.

"We shall." And they walked out after Rose.

-9-

When they stepped out, Rose was a bit ahead of them looking around in wonder. Jessa and the Doctor walked a little ways away and bought a newspaper. When Jessa saw the date on it, she started laughing. "How about that Mr. Competent Pilot." He glared at her, but the affect was ruined because of the upturn of his lips. He called out to Rose.

"I got the flight a bit wrong."

"I don't care."

"It's not 1860, it's 1869."

"I don't care."

"And it's not Naples."

"I don't care."

"It's Cardiff."

Rose stopped grinning and paused. "Right…."

All of the sudden, screaming could be heard from inside a theater. The Doctor grinned, "That's more like it." He threw the newspaper on the ground, and ran off towards the screaming. He was still holding on to Jessa, so she was being dragged alongside him. Rose was right behind them.

They entered the building to see a man yelling at everyone to stay calm and sit back down. A blue gas was zooming around the room. The Doctor was positively beaming. "Fantastic!"

The last of the gas, which originated from an elderly woman in the audience, left her and she slumped back in her chair. The Doctor turned toward the stage and approached a man.

"Did you see where it came from?"

The man glanced at him, "Ah. The wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!" That comment made the Doctor reel back in surprise. Jessa stifled the smile that was threatening to make an appearance.

Rose turned around to see two people taking off with an old woman. "Oi! Leave her alone." She turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, I'll get 'em!" She ran after the two people.

"Be careful!" He called after her. He focused his attention back to the man on the stage. "Did it say anything? Could it speak? I'm the Doctor, and this is Jessa, by the way."

Jessa waved, "Hello!"

The man looked at the Doctor in disbelief, "Doctor? You look more like a navy."

The Doctor gaped indignantly, "What's wrong with this jumper?" Jessa put her head in her hands, thoroughly embarrassed for him.

The gas was still darting around the room, when it entered a gas lamp and disappeared. It was Jessa who made the connection. "It's made of gas!" The Doctor nodded his agreement before he grabbed her hand and took off toward the exit. They left the theater and saw a young girl close the door of a hearse with what looked like Rose inside of it.

"Rose!" This came from both of them. They took off after the hearse, with the man in tow.

"You're not escaping me, sir! What do you know about that hobgoblin hm?" The hearse rolled away, and Jessa and the Doctor watched as it went. The man spoke up again, "Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?"

They both spun around, annoyed. "Yeah mate. Not now. Thanks." Jessa spotted a coach, and pulled her and the Doctor toward it. She yelled, "Excuse me, driver? Could you follow the hearse? Thanks!" They jumped in.

The man ran to join them, "You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Why not?! I'll give you a good reason why not! This is my coach!"

The Doctor gestured at him, "Well get in then!"

Toe coach rumbled toward where the hearse went. The driver turned back, "Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?"

The man huffed, "No, it is not."

The Doctor turned to the now dubbed Mr. Dickens, "What did he say?"

He was ignored, "Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humor…"

Jessa interrupted, "Dickens?"

"Yes."

"Charles Dickens?" It was the Doctor this time

"Yes."

"THE Charles Dickens?"

The driver turned again, "Shall I remove these two, sir?"

The Doctor started rambling, "Charles Dickens! You're brilliant, you are! Completely 100% brilliant! I've read them all! Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?

"A Christmas Carol?"

"No, no, no, the one with the trains….The Signal Man, that's it, Terrifying. You're a genius!"

Charles seemed rather pleased with himself. The driver called once more, "You want me to get rid of them, sir?"

"Er, no. I think they can stay."

Before they could continue, Jessa spoke up. "Let's focus. Our friend is in that hearse. She's only 19. She's in our care, and now she's in danger." The Doctor nodded, and gripped Jessa's hand.

Dickens startled, "Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! Be swift! The chase is on!"

"Yes sir!" The Driver shouted with a smile. They rode up to a funeral parlor, and hopped out of the coach. Dickens strutted up to the door and knocked. The young girl they saw in the hearse, answered the door.

"I'm sorry sir, we're closed"

Charles wasn't having any of that, "Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."

The girl was visibly panicking, "He's not in sir." She went to shut the door, but Dickens forced it open.

"Don't lie to me, child!"

"I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Dickens. But the master's indisposed." Just as she said that, one of the gas lamps behind her flared up.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow, "Having trouble with your gas?"

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens breathed.

"Well then. Hello! My name is Jessa, and I don't have time for this." With that she pushed into the hallway. The Doctor followed, grinning at her.

"You're not allowed in here!" The girl stuttered.

The Doctor paid her no mind, but instead pushed his ear on the wall. "There's something inside the walls. More specifically the gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas."

They heard screaming from upstairs. The Doctor and Jessa looked at each other. "That's her!" The two ran up the stairs to find her, while Dickens followed. They passed an older man who shouted at them.

"This is my house!" Dickens gave the girl a pointed look for lying about the master not being in, and shook his finger at her.

The Doctor found the right door and kicked it open, only to see a corpse with its hand over her mouth. "I think this is my dance." He grabbed Rose and pulled her out of the room.

Dickens looked as though he'd been struck, "It's a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence."

Jessa shook her head, "No we're not. The dead are just not so dead anymore." She looked at Rose in the Doctor's arms. "Hi!"

Rose smiled, "Hi!" To the Doctor, "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens."

She shrugged, "Oh okay."

"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" He peered at the corpse.

Surprisingly, the corpse answered, "We're failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form, cannot sustain, help us." Then, he collapsed when the blue gas left him with a wailing noise.

-9-

They went back down to the parlor, and Rose was yelling at the man, who they learned was named Mr. Sneed. The girl, Gwyneth, poured them all tea.

Rose started pacing and ranting. "First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." The Doctor sniggered.

Sneed stopped her, "I won't be spoken to like this!"

Rose gave no inclination at having heard him, "Then, you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And leave me to die! So come on, talk!"

Sneed looked offended, "It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And the stiffs…" He looked around. "….the er, dear departed started getting restless."

Gwyneth passed the Doctor a tea, "Two sugars, sir, just how you like it." Jessa watched her retreat curiously.

Dickens was in denial. "I saw nothing but an illusion."

The Doctor snapped, "If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up." He turned to Sneed. "What about the gas?"

"That's new sir. Never seen anything like that."

"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."

Rose said curiously, "What's the rift?"

"A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." Rose nodded her understanding, while Dickens snuck out of the room, and the Doctor followed him. Gwyneth went into the kitchen, so Jessa followed her.

Jessa walked into the kitchen to see Gwyneth doing the dishes, so she went and helped her. "Please, Miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!"

Jessa smiled, "It's alright. I used to do this at my house all the time, I found it rather relaxing."

Gwyneth nodded and gave no more protest. Jessa to keep a conversation turned to her, "So, did you go to school."

"Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper."

Jessa nodded, "You're lucky. I never got to go to school. Only my brothers did, but that didn't stop me. I stole away their books when they brought them home." She laughed.

Gwyneth nodded her sympathy, "To be honest, I hated every second"

"Oh not me. I loved learning, still do, really. So, how's working with Mr. Sneed."

"He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to take me in, because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thank you miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me." She suddenly had tears in her eyes. "But you, miss. Your family is lost to you. I'm so sorry."

Jessa wasn't mad, she was just curious. "How did you know that?" Gwyneth realized what she had said, and focused on doing the dishes.

"I don't know, must've been the Doctor."

"He doesn't know about that." She pointed out.

"Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss."

"No, no servants where I'm from." Gwyneth gazed into the distance.

"And you've come such a long way."

"What makes you think so?"

"You're not from London, no you're from a land lost to everyone a long time ago. A land not dissimilar to this one, but it is not this one. That was such a long time ago for you. How are you here?" She paused. "Forgive me, and pay me no mind. However, you have been to London. Now, I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And you've flown so far, further than anyone!" She stopped, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry miss! I can't help it, ever since I was a little girl. My mum said I had the sight. She told me to hide it."

The Doctor stepped behind them, pointedly ignoring everything he had heard except for the last part. "But it's getting stronger. More powerful, is that right?" Both girls jumped, not having heard the Doctor walk in. Gwen nodded.

"All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key."

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts."

He looked thoughtful. "Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

"What to do where, sir?"

A grin. "We're going to have a séance."

-9-

They all sat around a table, the Doctor was in between Jessa and Gwyneth. Rose was on Jessa's other side, followed by Dickens and Mr. Sneed. Gwyneth spoke up, "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists. Down in Mid Town. Come. We must all join hands." They all did just that, except for Dickens.

Dickens seemed to make a decision. "I can't take part in this." He stood up.

The Doctor sighed, "Humbug? Come on, open mind."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

"Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium." Jessa rolled her eyes at his lame joke. He turned to Dickens, who sat back down. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth. Reach out."

She nervously spoke, "Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits? Come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." She lifted her head towards the ceiling. A quiet murmuring filled the room.

Rose's eyes widened, "Can you hear that?"

Dickens scoffed. "Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly."

Jessa pointed, "Look at her."

Gwyneth spoke, "I feel them. I feel them!" The gas creatures started filling the room.

"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through." The Doctor said.

"I can't"

"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."

She looked pained, and lowered her head. Her eyes opened. "Yes." Three gaseous creatures appeared behind her. Sneed gasped.

"Great God. Spirits from the other side!"

"The other side of the universe." Corrected the Doctor.

One of the creatures spoke up. "Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us."

"What do you want us to do?"

The Gelth answered him. "The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

"What for?"

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

The Doctor looked curious, "Why, what happened?"

"Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came."

Dickens asked, "War? What war?"

"The Time War." The Doctor's grip on Jessa's hand tightened, and she squeezed it in return. The Gelth continued. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

The Doctor shook his head in understanding. "So, that's why you need the corpses."

"We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!"

"But, we can't!" Rose exclaimed from her spot.

"Why not?" The Doctor could sympathize with the Gelth, and felt that this was something that he could do.

"It's not…I mean, it's not…" She sputtered.

"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives!" The two had a mini stare down. Jessa stayed out of it, as she felt it was more Gwyneth's opinion that mattered.

The Gelth grew impatient. "Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!" With that, they disappeared, and Gwyneth collapsed on the table. Jessa immediately ran to her side.

Dickens looked where the Gelth had been, "All true, it's all true." He muttered.

-9-

Gwyneth opened her eyes a while later. She looked to Jessa, who was sitting by her side. "My angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?"

She looked down softly, "Yes Gwyneth, they do need you, but that doesn't mean you have to help them. Or you can, it's up to you. Do what **you** feel is right."

The Doctor was explaining what the Gelth were to Mr. Sneed when he heard Jessa. He smiled softly at her. "Why do they need the girl?" Dickens questioned.

"She can help living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."

"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."

"Good system, it might work." The Doctor agreed.

Rose, who had been uncomfortable about the whole situation, walked over to the Doctor. "You can't let them run around inside dead people!"

"Why not? It's like recycling."

She sighed. "Seriously though, you can't."

"Seriously though, I can."

"It's just….wrong! Those bodies were living people! We should respect them even in death!"

"Do you carry a donor card?"

"That's different, that's…"

"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it, or go home." He bit out. Seeing her hurt expression, he spoke in a softer tone. "You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."

"I don't care they aren't using that poor girl."

Gwyneth looked over, "Don't I get a say, miss?"

Rose turned to her. "Look you don't understand."

"You would say that miss. Because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."

Rose shook her head vigorously. "That's not fair!"

"It's true though. Things might be very different where you're from. But here and now, I know my own mind. And the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?" Jessa grinned proudly at her for standing up for herself.

He restated Jessa's earlier words. "You don't have to do anything."

"They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on holy mission. So tell me." He smiled at her.

"We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other." He turned to Mr. Sneed. "Mr. Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

He thought about it, "That would be the morgue."

Rose snorted. "No chance you were gonna say 'gazebo' was there?"

-9-

The door to the morgue unlocked, and everybody walked in, led by the Doctor. He glanced around, "Talk about Bleak House."

Rose voiced what had been bothering her the entire time. "The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed. Because I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869." There would've been reports about that somewhere.

"Time's in flux. It's changing every second. Your cozy little world could be rewritten like that. Nothing safe. Remember that. Nothing." He knew he was being a bit harsh, but he couldn't help but feel at least a little responsible for the fate of the Gelth. But, he also knew that this was a lesson Rose need to learn. And Jessa too, although he wouldn't be surprised if she already knew that. She seemed to know a lot of things she reasonably shouldn't. He wouldn't say anything to her about it, it was obvious she had secrets and he would respect that.

Rose shivered. "Doctor, I think the room is getting colder."

The Gelth filled the room. The leader stood under the archway in the middle of the room. "You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"

The Doctor made his main condition, "I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright." Rose was right about one thing, the Gelth couldn't stay on Earth.

Gwyneth, who had been quietly observing in awe, spoke. "My angels. I can help them live."

The Doctor nodded, "Okay, where's the weak point?"

The Gelth cried out, "Here, beneath the arch." Gwyneth moved under the arch.

Rose tried one more time, "You don't have to do this." It wasn't that she cared for Gwyneth greatly, it's just she had a bad feeling about this. Aliens just couldn't inhabit dead people on Earth.

The Gelth cried out once more. "Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!" Gwyneth's mouth opened and Gelth poured out of it. "She has given herself to the Gelth!"

Dickens noticed something, "There's rather a lot of them, eh?"

"The Bridge is open, we descend." All of the gas then turned from blue to red. "The Gelth will come through in force."

The Doctor was outraged, as he realized he had been played.

"You said that you were few in number." Cried Dickens.

"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." Bodies around them started to rise.

Mr. Sneed started to plead. "Gwyneth….stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you…."

Jessa called out, "Mr. Sneed! Get Back!" A corpse grabbed Mr. Sneed and held him still while a Gelth filled his body. He looked up at them through dead eyes.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "I think it's gone a little bit wrong." The corpses started walking toward him, Rose, and Jessa. They started backing up as the Gelth advanced.

"We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead."

"Gwyneth stop them! Send them back! Now!"

She didn't seem to hear him. The Gelth spoke again. "Three more bodies. Make them vessels for the Gelth."

As one of the Gelth swooped towards Dickens he yelled at the Doctor. "I can't, I'm sorry! It's too much for me!" He ran out the door of the morgue, leaving the three behind.

The Doctor looked behind him, and spotted a dungeon door. He pushed Rose and Jessa in before stepping in himself and locked them in. "I trusted you, I pitied you." He screamed.

"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh." They started shaking the door.

"Not while I'm alive."

"Then live no longer."

The three flattened themselves against the back wall, getting as far away from the Gelth as they could. Jessa's heart was racing, and so was Rose's. The latter looked over at the Doctor for reassurance. "But I can't die. Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?"

The Doctor just muttered out a quiet, "I'm sorry."

"But its 1869, how can I die now?"

"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century, and die in the 19th, and it's all my fault. I brought you two here."

"It's not your fault. I wanted to come." Jessa nodded.

"Me too."

The Doctor was horrified. "What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm going to die in a dungeon. In Cardiff!"

Jessa grabbed his hand, "Well then, let's make this count. Die fighting. Makes Cardiff a little more bearable. Yeah?"

He grinned, "Yeah!" And then, "I'm so glad I met you."

"Me too."

Dickens rushed into the room. "Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!"

The Doctor was intrigued. "What're you doing?"

"Turn it all on! Gas the place!"

"Brilliant! Gas!"

"What, so we choke to death instead?" She said bitterly. She was a little put out after what happened between Jessa and the Doctor.

Dickens was still talking, "Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous!"

"Yes. Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!"

The Doctor broke a gas canister, making all the Gelth to leave the corpses with a scream. Leaving the three to come out from behind the door. The Doctor ran to Gwyneth.

"Gwyneth! Send them back! The lied, they're not angels."

Gwyneth simply said, "Liars."

"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"

Rose started to choke, "Can't Breathe."

"Charles get her and Jessa out!" Dickens grabbed them, but Jessa pulled back.

"I'm staying."

Gwyneth started crying, "They're too strong!"

"Remember that world you saw? Jessa's world? All those people, none of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out!" She stated firmly.

The Doctor grabbed Rose and Jessa, "Rose, Jessa, get out. Go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!"

Rose left to go with Dickens, but Jessa stayed. "No, and we don't have time to argue, so just accept it."

He gave her a long stare before nodding. Rose and Dickens ran out.

The Doctor turned around and put his hand out for the matches that Gwyneth had pulled. "Now give that to me." He didn't get a response.

Realizing that she was probably dead, he walked over and felt her pulse, his face fell when he didn't feel one. He kissed her forehead, and Jessa walked over to do the same. The Doctor reached out to grab Jessa's hand. She took it, and they ran outside. Leaving just as Gwyneth set the match and blew up the place. Jessa looked back sadly.

"She saved the world, and no one will ever know." A tear fell down her cheek.

-9-

They left after saying their goodbyes to a newly rejuvenated Charles Dickens. The Doctor went to work on the console, and both girls went to their rooms. Jessa changed out of her dress into sweatpants, and left towards the console room. She got there to find the Doctor laying in their usual talking spot. So, she went and joined him. They didn't talk for a while, just sitting there, until their usual story telling started up.

The next week passed mostly the same. They'd go sightseeing to a different planet of event, and when they came back and Rose went to bed, the Doctor and Jessa sat and talked. Some nights it was about the past, others were about science or math, but they always started out the same way. With a simple question. Nothing thought provoking just a regular question.

"What's your favorite color?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Orange, but not like a bright rainbow orange, but more of a burnt sunset orange."

"Why?"

"It reminds me of Gallifrey. There would be times where I'd just look at the sky to watch the most beautiful orange dance across it. It's a relaxing color." And there was a serene smile on his face. "And what about you?"

"Blue. Not a sky blue, but rather a blue that is so dark, it's almost black."

"Any reason?"

"It was the color of the sky at night back home. When I was little I'd always run outside just after midnight to stare at the sky and its stars. Drove my brothers crazy, since I could never keep quiet. Always woke them up." She laughed, "God, look at us being all sappy and nostalgic, how pathetic."

He chuckled, "Yeah, but that's okay, it can be our secret."

They both sat there smiling for a while before Jessa asked, "So, theoretically, what would happen if we went back and killed my grandfather. Seems like an appropriate question, this being a time machine and all"

He grinned, "Well….."


	4. Aliens of London

**Hey Guys! I'm really sorry about not posting this last weekend, I was just really busy and I couldn't find the time. Anyways thanks for reading and reviewing last chapter. It means a ton. I hope you like this, and enjoy!**

 **I don't own anything but Jessa.**

* * *

The TARDIS materialized outside of Powell Estate. Rose ran out smiling. She turned to the Doctor, "How long have I been gone?"

"About 12 hours." They both started laughing.

"Oh! Right, I won't be long. I'm just gonna see my mum."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know! I've been to the year 5 billion…and only been gone, what, 12 hours?" The Doctor snorted, and Rose smiled. "No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareens. See you later!" She walked off, but turned back before she got very far, "Oh, don't you disappear."

The Doctor gave her a look as she went, before turning to Jessa. "Have you got anywhere you need to be?"

"Yeah, I need to grab something from my flat, you're welcome to come if you want."

He frowned, "Anyone you need to visit?"

"Nope, nobody would've noticed me gone, so there's no need really."

He stared at her sadly, she had mentioned that before when he had asked for her cellphone, but he hadn't thought she literally meant that she had nobody to care for her. His mind made up, he started off after her. Getting to her apartment, she unlocked the door and went to turn on the lights. Nothing happened so she asked.

"Doctor, are you sure that we were gone only 12 hours?"

"Yeah why?"

"They've shut off my power." She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, only to find rotten food. "It seems it's been that way for a while."

The Doctor frowned and walked over to the door. Sitting on the mat was a flyer that neither of them had noticed before. The flyer had a picture of Rose and read, 'Can you help?' He grimaced and took off towards Rose's apartment, leaving Jessa to stare after him in amusement and disbelief.

The Doctor ran into the flat, finding Rose being hugged by her mom. He shrugged apologetically and said, "It's not 12 hours, it's er…12 months. You've been gone a whole year." Both Rose and her mum, Jackie, were giving him stunned stares. "Sorry."

-9-

Rose and the Doctor were getting chewed out by Jackie and interrogated by a policeman when Jessa walked in. She was now carrying a bag with her stuff in it. Jackie looked over, "And who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Hello! I'm Jessa, I live right below you. I just came up looking for the Doctor." She spotted him, "Hello!" She waved. He waved back and was about to talk but Jackie interrupted.

"Nobody's lived below here for a long while." She turned to the Doctor. "Did you kidnap her too?"

The police raised his eyebrows, and the Doctor sighed, "No. As I already said, nobody was kidnapped." Jessa nodded her agreement.

Jackie huffed. "Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, Rose vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? 40? 45? What, you find her on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I am a Doctor?"

"Prove it! Stitch this, mate." And she slapped him. Hard. Jessa burst out laughing.

"Your face! Oh my God! That was great!"

Jackie, looking pleased with herself, dragged Rose towards the kitchen. The policeman left, seeing this was not a kidnapping. The Doctor and Jessa went and sat on the roof. Rose joined them a few minutes later. She had tears in her eyes, "I can't tell her. I can't even begin….she's never gonna forgive me. And I missed a year? Was it good?"

The Doctor lifted his hand and did the so-so motion. Jessa rolled her eyes. Rose suddenly started laughing. "She slapped you!"

"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother."

Jessa stopped smiling. '900 years? How long does he live? Could he live as long as I do?' She looked over at him studying him while he was talking to Rose. If so, then she wouldn't have to be alone. But she couldn't bring that up without doing more research. As far as she knew, he'd only live to be 1000, but maybe, just maybe, the universe had decided that she lived alone long enough.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when a spacecraft smashed into Big Ben, and landed in the Thames. All three on the roof stood up with their mouths open. The Doctor laughed, grabbed both girls' hands and ran off the roof.

-9-

They ran into to the mayhem of the streets. Jessa turned to the Doctor. "What're the facts, Doctor?

"I have no idea."

"Oh, so glad you're here."

He missed the sarcasm, "I bet you are! This is what I travel for. To see history happening right in front of us."

Rose started walking towards the TARDIS, intent on going inside. "Well, let's go and see it! Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS."

The Doctor shook his head at Rose. "Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top."

Rose stopped, "Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice."

Jessa interrupted. "In an emergency, people tend to be more aware. No offense to the TARDIS, but she's not very inconspicuous. She's be better off here." The Doctor looked at her questioningly.

"And how do you know this?"

"Other than the fact that it's obvious, I know a lot of the people that are bound to be heading towards Downing Street."

The Doctor was about to question her some more, when Rose spoke up. "So, history's happening, and we're stuck here."

"Yes, we are."

She looked thoughtful, "We could always do what everybody else does. We could watch it on TV." The Doctor looked as though this was a new idea to him.

-9-

After they walked back to the flat, the Doctor immediately turned the TV on. The news reader was talking, "Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene." Jessa and the Doctor were watching intently. Rose was with her mom, visiting with all the people Jackie had invited.

"The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family." Every news channel they turned to said the same things. Jackie was talking in the background, rather loudly, when the Doctor grew frustrated.

"Oi! I'm trying to listen!" Jessa smacked him lightly on the arm for being rude, before turning to the news again.

"They've found a body." This caused the Doctor's eyebrows to raise. "It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jackie again, who was gossiping about dating. He went back to the news. "Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown." A boy ran over to the couch and grabbed the remote. He changed the channel a few times before a cooking show came on. The Doctor was wrestling with the boy for control of the remote. Jessa rolled her eyes and picked up the kid, leaving the remote on the couch.

"There, now change it back."

He did just that. "We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off-it's the closest to the river." The little boy hopped of Jessa's lap and stood in front of the TV. The Doctor pointed at him to move, and the boy did so reluctantly. The news was still going. "I'm being told that…..General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body. Contained inside those walls…." The news continued, playing the same things repeatedly. When night fell, the Doctor slipped out of the flat, in what he thought was a sneaky manner. That illusion was ruined by a voice behind him.

"And where do think you're going." He winced at Rose's voice. Turning around he put on an innocent look.

"Nowhere! It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all."

Now Rose wasn't stupid. She could pick out a bold face lie when she saw one. The Doctor knew this, so he did the smart thing, and continued to lie some more. "It's got nothing to do with me. It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything is perfect!"

Rose urged him on, "So…"

"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand. You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum." He was grinning by the end of that.

Rose looked unsure. "Promise you won't disappear?" He stopped and started feeling around in his jacket pockets.

"Tell you what, TARDIS key." He handed her a small silver key. "Gave Jessa one a few days ago. About time you had one." Rose wasn't as happy about that as she felt she should've been. She didn't like to think that she was a jealous person. But something about Jessa rubbed her the wrong way. It wasn't her personality, no. The girl was smart and nice, but it was her interactions with the Doctor. The two were close, as if they'd been together for years. It was what Rose wanted, and she didn't find it fair that Jessa could have it and she couldn't. She realized that the Doctor had left, so she clutched the key, turned around, and walked back towards the flat.

-9-

The Doctor walked towards the TARDIS, passing by tons of signs that people had hung up welcoming the aliens. He walked into the TARDIS and ran straight to the console. He pressed a few buttons and pulled a lever. He grinned when it started to move.

"So, where are we going?" He jumped up startled, and turned around to see Jessa on her laptop.

"What're you doing in here?"

"Well, when Jackie decided to explain to me how to get a discount on anything and everything using my 'looks' I came to hide in here, so now where are we going?" He smiled, her annoyance towards Jackie, another thing he lov.. liked about her.

"I'm going to visit a hospital, being a doctor and all. You are going to stay here and do whatever it is you were doing."

"Well I can't do that, what if the hospital is need of something that only I could provide. You can never be too careful." She teased. He smirked.

"Fair enough." He turned around to see the console smoking. He picked up a nearby hammer and hit it a few times against the console. It worked, and he kissed the hammer before setting it back down.

"Hey! Be nice to her!" She reprimanded. He ignored her, instead paying attention to the fact that the TARDIS had landed. He opened the door, leaving Jessa to follow him. They were in a small, dark, storeroom. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started to unlock the door. The screwdriver made a loud buzzing noise and he shushed it. Jessa rolled her eyes.

"Yes, that'll help." He shushed her as well.

He got the door unlocked and they stepped outside. He opened another door, only to find at least 20 soldiers laughing and joking around. They all fell silent when the two of them were noticed. All of the soldiers immediately pulled out their guns and pointed them at the pair. The Doctor grinned, but he reached out and pulled Jessa behind him.

He was about to make up some explanation as to what they were doing there, when he heard screaming. His grin slipped off his face, and he grabbed Jessa's hand before running towards the source of the noise. He yelled behind him, "Defense part delta! Come on, move, move!" The tone of his voice made all of the soldiers followed him. They ran down some corridors, and the Doctor spotted someone crouched on the floor.

She screamed. "It's alive!" The Doctor turned to the men behind him.

"Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lock down." He knelt beside the woman and held her hands. The soldiers were staring at them.

Jessa looked at them. "Move!" And they did. They started running off in all directions. The Doctor shook his head in fondness at her before turning to the woman on the floor. There was blood running down from her hairline.

She was crying. "I swear it was dead."

He nodded. "Coma, shock, hibernation, anything. What does it look like?" There was a shuffle behind them. "It's still here."

He called for one of the soldiers to follow him, and moved to look for the source of the sound. There was a rattle and he dropped to his knees. Jessa was watching him curiously next to the woman, who introduced herself as Dr. Sato.

The Doctor peered around his desk, only to see the face of a pig. "Hello!" The pig squealed in terror and ran across the room. The soldier raised his gun and took a shot at it, killing it. Jessa grimaced at the dead pig. She had figured out as soon as she saw it, that it wasn't an alien. The Doctor glared.

"What did you do that for? It was scared!" he crouched down and stroked the pig as it died. "It was scared." He repeated.

-9-

The Doctor, Jessa, and Dr. Sato were examining the pig.

"I just assumed that's what alien's look like. But you're saying it's an ordinary pig? From Earth?" Doctor Sato asked the Doctor.

"More like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat and gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now, someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on…then they strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb. It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke."

"So, it's a fake. A pretend. Like the mermaid. But the technology augmenting it's brain…..it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens…" That was all the Doctor heard, as he and Jessa left.

-9-

They materialized right where they had left. The Doctor was working on the console some more when Rose walked in. She felt a pang of jealousy when she saw Jessa sitting in the captain's chair, but pushed it down. The Doctor started talking.

"Alright, so I lied! I went and had a look with Jessa. But the whole crash landing's a fake, I thought so. It's just too perfect, I mean 'hitting Big Ben' come on, so I thought so let's go and have a look."

She interrupted. "My mum's here." As she said that, the door opened and Jackie along with Mickey walked through. The Doctor groaned.

"Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!" Jessa shivered in horror at the thought of having Jackie Tyler join them in the TARDIS. Mickey walked up to the Doctor and pointed an accusing finger.

"You ruined my life, Doctor!" The person in question spun around to face him. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

The Doctor looked at Rose pointedly. "See what I mean? Domestic." He turned back towards the console, ignoring Mickey.

But Mickey wasn't about to be ignored. "I bet you don't even remember my name!"

"Rickey."

"It's Mickey."

"No, it's Rickey."

"I think I know my own name."

Jessa couldn't help herself. "You think you know your own name? How's that working out for you?"

Mickey, who just realized she was there asked. "And who're you?!"

"I'm Jessa. Hello!"

This earned her a grin from the Doctor, one she happily returned. Jackie, decided that this was too much, ran outside. Rose called out to her before following. It wasn't long before she came back in, and ran up to the Doctor's side.

"That was a real spaceship?"

He nodded. She continued, "So, it's all a pack of lies? What is it then, are they invading?" From behind them Mickey commented.

"Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert."

The Doctor looked reluctantly impressed. "Good point! So, what are they up to?"

-9-

The Doctor was wedged underneath the console. Mickey looked at him curiously. "So, what're you doing down there?"

The Doctor, whose voice was muffled due to the sonic screwdriver shoved in his mouth said, "Rickey."

"Mickey." Mickey corrected.

The Doctor took the screwdriver out of his mouth so he could make himself clearer. "Rickey." Jessa chuckled at him. He winked at her before looking at Mickey. "If I were to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"

"I suppose not."

"Shut it then." Jessa looked up from her laptop and yelled at him.

"Hey, Doctor! No need to be rude. Not all of us can be as well versed as you in time machine mechanics." He rolled his eyes in response. He went back to work, not listening to Rose and Mickey making up. They were about to kiss when sparks shot up from the console.

The Doctor cried out, "Got it! Haha!" Jessa watched him, smiling softly. She loved it when he got like that. She shook her head, what was she thinking? She would never be any more than friends with the Doctor, and that was final.

He started explaining how the alien ship came from Earth, and that meant aliens had already been on Earth for a while. "The question is, what have they been doing?"

-9-

The Doctor, having no idea what the aliens were doing, decided to watch the news again. He switched from channel to channel. Mickey saw the amount of channels there were, had to ask. "How many channels do you get?"

The Doctor sighed, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed. "All the basic packages."

Trying not to sound too curious, Mickey asked, "You get the sports channels?"

He was right. "Yes, I get the football." He looked at the TV again. "Hold on, I know that bloke."

A news reporter was speaking. "It is looking likely that the government is bringing on alien specialists, those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space."

"Unit!" The Doctor exclaimed. "United Nations Intelligence Task Force, good people."

Mickey, feeling pleased with himself added to Rose, "He's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet….and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead."

The Doctor bristled. "That's nice, good boy Rickey."

Rose decided to stop the argument, "If you know them, why don't you go and help?"

"They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover…and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of sight." Jessa nodded, it made sense. She assumed that he was talking about regeneration when he said Unit wouldn't recognize him. He had told her about regeneration when she had asked about his life span. She still wasn't sure if it was as long as hers, because he wouldn't answer the question directly. But, she was happy to find out his life might just be as long as hers.

The Doctor turned. "Rickey! You've got a car- you can do some driving."

They all stepped out of the TARDIS. They immediately heard the sounds of helicopters. A search light was put on them. Over a loudspeaker they heard, "Do not move!"

Police swarmed out from the alley and surrounded them. They pointed their guns at the group. Mickey took off down the street, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes. Jackie ran out of her flat, trying to get to Rose, but two soldiers grabbed her arms and restrained her.

The loud speaker called out again, "Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest."

All three obeyed, and the Doctor grinned. "Take me to your leader!" Jessa laughed at him.

-9-

The three were lead to a rather nice car. They were escorted inside, leaving Jessa to sit in the middle. "You know, I've never liked the middle seat. You're stuck squashed between two people. However, in this car it's rather nice. Which leaves me to think we're not being arrested."

The Doctor laughed. She was very observant. "You're right. We're not being arrested, we're being escorted!"

"Where to?" asked Rose.

"Where'd you think? Downing Street!"

They all started laughing. Rose squealed. "Oh my god! I'm going to 10 Downing Street!" She looked over, "But why?"

"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh, noticed."

Jessa nodded. "So now they need you?" She asked this absent mindedly, and didn't pay attention to the Doctor's answer or Rose's reply. She was curious whether UNIT had also brought them in for her as well. She knew she was on their lists of specialists, and if she was with the Doctor, then she might be called for the meeting as well. She didn't know what she was going to tell the Doctor. He would be suspicious about that. 'Oh well.' she thought. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad, and she could just make up a reason for being an alien specialist for now. At least until she decided to tell him the real reason.

The car pulled up in front of 10 Downing Street. Paparazzi and police surrounded the entrance. They all stepped out of the car, the Doctor waving, Rose smiling shyly, and Jessa keeping her head down as she tried not to be noticed.

They walked into the building to see a man conducting everybody around. "Ladies and Gentlemen, could we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right and can I remind you, ID cards are to be worn at all times." He approached the Doctor and handed him an ID card. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance." Jessa raised her eyebrow, maybe luck was going her way, and they forgot to put her on the list.

The man looked at her again, before getting a look of recognition. "Apologies, Miss Knight, didn't recognize you there." He handed her an ID card as well. Jessa sighed, or maybe her luck was just as good as always.

The Doctor looked over in surprise before pulling Jessa into a corner. "Miss Knight?"

"It's not my real name, just what I go by here."

The Doctor nodded before furrowing his eyebrows. "Why are you recognized as an alien specialist?"

"I told you I read up on aliens as a hobby, you can't do that without being discovered."

The Doctor knew she was lying, and it hurt a little bit to be lied to but he trusted her, and trusted that she had a good reason to be lying. "I'll take that for now, but we will talk about this later." She nodded and they walked back over to Rose and the man.

"Well Miss Knight and I don't go anywhere without Rose here."

"I'm sorry Doctor…..it is Doctor isn't it? She'll have to stay outside." The Doctor looked ready to argue, but a woman walked up to him.

"Excuse me? Are you the Doctor?"

The Doctor ignored her, instead listening to Rose. "It's alright, you two go." Although she didn't want Jessa to go alone with the Doctor. They spent far too much time together alone.

The Doctor looked at her seriously, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they're the experts, you should hear what they've got to say."

"I suppose so. Stay out of trouble." He grabbed Jessa's hand and pulled her into the room with him.

-9-

The conference room was already filled with all sorts of people, so the Doctor and Jessa sat in the back. The meeting was soon called to order.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention please. As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant…."

The Doctor, who had been listening, and decided it was a good time to interrupt. "Now, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under every other business. The North Sea, the satellite, a little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms like there was something down there…you were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens, spaceships, pigs, massive diversion, from what?" Everybody just stared at him in muted shock, except Jessa. She was watching the others reactions' in amusement.

The Doctor was not disturbed by the silence and kept talking. "Of aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?" It clicked. "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap."

Jessa, hearing this, immediately stood up and pulled off her ID. After all, the only things that could be trapped were the chairs and ID's. The Doctor followed her example and went and stood by her.

All the experts stared at him intently, fear and intrigue in their eyes. "Alien experts, the only people with knowledge on how to fight them gathered in one room." He studied each face, trying to pick out the alien. Well, he was until one of them farted. He looked over, fairly disgusted.

"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

"Would you rather silent but deadly?" He and General Asquith started snickering at their inside joke. Asquith off his hat and started unzipping the zipper on his forehead. He pulled off his skin, to reveal a green alien. Everyone stared, transfixed. Both of the now confirmed aliens started laughing manically. One of them spoke out.

"We are the slitheen, and we would like to thank you all for wearing your ID cards." He took a weapon from his pocket. "They'll help to identify the bodies."

Jessa being ever the paranoid one, pulled her and the Doctor behind a chair. The aliens pressed the button, and everybody but the two of them and the aliens started convulsing from electric shock. The Doctor and Jessa stared on in horror.


	5. World War Three

**A/N: Hey guys! Once again thanks for all of the support on the last chapter. I know I'm sounding repetitive, but it does mean a lot. Anyways here's the next chapter, a little bit of The Doctor/Jessa at the end. And yes, Rose is getting jealous. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own Doctor Who, but I really wish I did.**

* * *

Last Time

 _The aliens pressed the button, and everybody but the two of them and the aliens started convulsing from electric shock. The Doctor and Jessa stared on in horror._

-9-

The Doctor stood up, he reached over and pulled the electricity from someone into his hands, and plunged it into the Slitheen's chest. Both Slitheen howled in pain. He quickly turned around, and grabbed Jessa's hand before rushing out the door.

He led them into reception, where all the guards stood. "Oi! You want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Come on!" With that, they started back towards the conference room.

When they reached the room, both Slitheen were back into their skin suits. They looked at the Doctor. "Where've you been?"

The security ran around the room, checking for a pulse. The Slitheen, disguised as a man named Joseph, kept talking. "I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this lightning! This kind of…" He paused, as if struggling for the right words. "Electricity, and they collapsed!"

One of the guards pointed out, what was rather obvious. "I think they're all dead."

Joseph nodded. "That's what I'm saying." He pointed to Jessa and the Doctor. "They did it! Those two there!" The Doctor's grip on Jessa's hand tightened as he spoke.

"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise." Jessa shook her head and whispered to the Doctor.

"You realize how utterly ridiculous you sound, right? Do you even have a filter on you?" He rolled his eyes, but there was an amused smile on his lips.

"Well in that case, run!" They both headed out the door.

They only made it down the corridor before the police caught up. They turned around and put their hands up. The Doctor put on his best grin.

Asquith smirked, "Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute these people!"

The security pointed their guns. The Doctor once again pulled Jessa behind him. He hoped that this wasn't going to become a tradition. He didn't think his hearts could take it. He started talking to stall for a little.

"Uh, well, now, yes. You see, uh…the thing is….if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice." The lift behind them pinged. "Don't stand against the lift!" They backed into the lift and he closed it with his sonic screwdriver.

The lift opened, and they saw Rose and another woman being chased by a Slitheen. The Doctor waved at them all pleasantly, which earned him a smack on the arm from Jessa. The doors shut again, leaving Rose and the other woman enough time to slip away.

-9-

The lift doors opened again, and this time they stepped out. They ran along yet another corridor and down some stairs. Some voices were talking nearby, so they hid in a crevice next to a door. Just as they did that, two Slitheen walked past. They waited until the Slitheen were out of sight to keep running.

-9-

The Doctor and Jessa heard Rose screaming from a door down the hall. They went over to it, the Doctor grabbed a fire extinguisher, and crashed inside. He blasted the Slitheen with the fire extinguisher, and shouted to the two girls trapped inside. "Out! With me!"

Rose pulled the curtains she was hiding behind over the Slitheen's head and she and the other person she was with stood behind the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at the new addition. "Who the hell are you?"

She straightened up. "Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North."

He nodded. "Nice to meet you."

Jessa looked at the aliens nervously. "I hate to interrupt, I really do, but perhaps we could do this a bit later."

The Doctor blasted the Slitheen in agreement with Jessa, before they all ran out the door.

-9-

They were running again. Jessa thanked whoever was listening for the fact she was wearing her most comfortable shoes.

The Doctor called out, "We need to get to the cabinet rooms!"

Harriet responded. "The Emergency Protocols are in there! They give instructions on aliens!"

He nodded in appreciation. "Harriet Jones, I like you."

She nodded. "And I like you too."

They kept running. The Doctor unlocked a door, and they all ran inside. The Doctor didn't have enough time to close it behind them, so he picked up a bottle of brandy and made something up. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up, so back off." The Slitheen hesitated. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens." Harriet said, trying to be helpful. Jessa giggled.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes. I got that, thanks."

The Slitheen were intently studying the Doctor. "Who're you of not human?"

Harriet looked confused. "Who's not human?"

Jessa pointed at the Doctor. Harriet looked shocked, but stayed silent after Jessa put her finger to her lips.

Said Doctor looked back towards the aliens. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government, what for? Invasion?"

The Slitheen that looked like Asquith scoffed. "Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?"

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here, what is it?"

Asquith was puzzled. "The Slitheen race?"

Joseph added, "Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service."

The Doctor Ahh'd. "So, you're family." The Slitheen nodded in agreement. "Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock?'"

Asquith looked at the brandy with suspicion. "Ahhh….excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"

The Doctor had surprise on his face. "Is that what I said?"

"You're making it up!" He accused.

The Doctor shrugged. "Ah well. Nice try. Jessa, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." He handed the brandy over.

"Thanks."

The Slitheen held out their claws and shuffled forward. Rose spoke to the Doctor, but never taking her eyes off the Slitheen. "Don't you think we should run?"

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room-if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four safest walls in the whole of Great Britain." He pressed a button near the door. "End of lesson." Every door was blocked by metal shudders. The Doctor turned to the other three. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

Jessa sighed, for as smart as the Doctor was, he was an idiot. "And how, do you propose, we get out?"

The grin fell. "Ah."

-9-

The Doctor dragged the body that was in the room, into the cupboard. "What was his name?"

Jessa, who saw the man's name on his clipboard earlier, replied. "Indra."

The Doctor crossed Indra's arms over his chest and looked down. "Sorry Indra." He walked across the room. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals? Anything?"

Jessa shook her head. "No this place is too old to have anything like that." And she would know, she was there when it was built.

The Doctor paused from scanning the walls with his screwdriver. "Harriet Jones, I've heard that name before, Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?"

She snorted. "Huh, Hardly!"

"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones." He scrunched his face up in concentration.

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid. And a fat lot of use I'm being now, protocols are redundant, the list of the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs." She pointed at Jessa. "Except you of course, but you're stuck in here with us."

The Doctor frowned at that. He had no idea why she would be on that list, but he planned to find out, but first to get out of here alive.

Rose shrugged, not aware of the Doctor's thoughts. "Hasn't it got defense codes and things? Can we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em?"

Harriet stared, looking scandalized. "You're a very violent young woman…"

"I'm serious, we could!"

"Well, there's nothing like that in there. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations." Jessa added.

The Doctor stopped scanning. "Say that again."

Jessa looked at him questioningly. "What, about the codes?"

"Anything. All of it."

"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN." Jessa said that slowly as if the Doctor couldn't understand. "Is that important?" She couldn't understand why he was asking.

"Everything's important." He sounded as though that should have been obvious.

Harriet thought out loud. "If only we knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal."

"What do they want, though?" Rose added.

The Doctor had no idea. "Well, it's just one family so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen world….They're out to make money, which means they want to use something, something here on Earth…some kind of asset."

"Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?"

"You're very good at this, Harriet Jones."

"Thank you." She sounded pleased. Rose's phone went off.

"Oh! That's me." She took her phone out of her pocket.

Harriet was surprised for what felt like the millionth time. "But we're sealed off, how did you get a signal?"

She nodded at the Doctor. "He zapped it! Super-phone."

"Then we can phone for help! You must have contacts."

He nodded. "Dead downstairs, yeah."

Rose looked at her phone to see who was calling. "It's Mickey."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy."

She smirked. "Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." She boasted. She handed over her phone to the Doctor. It was a picture of a Slitheen standing in Jackie's kitchen.

-9-

Rose was on the phone for a minute before she said, "Is she alright though? Don't put her on, just tell me."

The Doctor sighed, now was not the time for domestics. He snatched the phone. "Is that Rickey? Don't talk just shut up and go to your computer."

"It's Mickey, and why should I?"

"Mickey the idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but uh, I need you." Rose smiled a little bit triumphantly.

-9-

Jessa had been silent for a while, and it worried the Doctor. She'd sat down and was just staring at the table, deep in thought. He took one last look before he had Mickey log into UNIT.

"It says password." The Doctor put the phone on speaker and set it down.

"Say that again."

Mickey sighed. "It's asking for the password."

"Buffalo, two Fs, one L."

Jessa was zoned out. She had a feeling she knew how this would end. The option had always been there. It was just a matter of time before the Doctor took it. She didn't know if she'd survive, but she'd guess she would. Nothing so far had killed her. But Rose, and the Doctor, she'd lose them. She guessed it was her fault for growing close. Time to face the consequences. She joined in on the conversation to catch the Doctor say.

"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?"

Jessa had no idea what they were referring to, so she kept quiet. She heard the doorbell ring multiple times on the other end, and Jackie go to answer it.

Then she screamed, "It's him! It's the thing, it's the slickeen!"

Mickey gulped. "They've found us."

The Doctor persisted. "Mickey, I need that signal."

Rose paced frantically. She grabbed the phone and yelled into it. "Never mind the signal, mum, just get out! Get out! Get out!"

"We can't it's by the front door." Mickey said grimly. Then more loudly, "Oh my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us."

Harriet felt bad for them. "There's got to be some way of stopping them! You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!"

The Doctor said, frustrated, "I'm trying!"

Through the phone, they heard the Slitheen break down the door. Rose gave a pointed look to the Doctor. "That's my mother."

"Right! If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from- which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!"

Jessa, wanting to be part of the conversation again said, "They're green."

"Yep, narrows it down."

"Uh, good sense of smell." That came from Rose.

"Narrows it down."

Rose also added, "They can smell adrenaline."

"Narrows it down."

Harriet spoke, "The compression technology."

"Narrows it down."

Harriet paused, "Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else, what is it, it's more like ummm…."

Jessa thought about it, 'bad breath' so that means, "Calcium decay!"

The Doctor clapped his hands together, "Now that narrows it down! Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, what else, what else, hyphenated sodium, yes! That narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorious!"

Mickey shouted through the phone. "Oh yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter." They heard the Slitheen kick down the door.

The Doctor shouted, "Get into the kitchen! Mickey have you got any vinegar?"

"How should I know?"

Jessa rolled her eyes. "Well it is your kitchen."

The Doctor grinned at her as Rose said, "Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf."

Jackie spoke through the phone. "What do you need?"

"Anything with vinegar!"

Jackie looked while the Slitheen were trying to break down the kitchen door. "I've got pickled onions and picked eggs!"

The Doctor looked over at Rose with a mock disgusted look on his face. "You kiss this man?"

Rose shushed him as she listened to the phone, and she let out a huge sigh of relief when she heard the explosion. That meant her family was safe. She looked over to the Doctor to thank him, but saw him looking at Jessa with a concerned look. She sighed. And then they heard Mickey pick up the phone.

"Listen to this!"

They faintly heard someone on the TV say, "Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds."

Everybody in the room looked confused, as the voice continued. "Our technicians can baffle the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations- pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because.. from this moment on… it is my solemn duty to inform you.. planet Earth is at war."

The Doctor started pacing again, shaking his head furiously. "He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it." Jessa could practically hear the wheels turning.

Harriet was growing nervous at a realization. "Do you think they'll believe him?"

"Well, they did last time." Jessa reasoned.

Something clicked for the Doctor, "That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out." And suddenly he realized what was happening. He cursed himself for not figuring it out sooner. He looked over at the three people he was with, and he knew what he had to do. No matter how much he didn't want to.

It dawned on Jessa at the same time. She spoke out quietly. "They're going to release the defense codes and the Slitheen get nuclear bombs."

The Doctor walked over to the shutters and opened them to reveal the Slitheen still standing outside. "You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three, whole planet gets nuked."

The Slitheen occupying a woman named Margaret stepped forward. "And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away."

Harriet couldn't believe her ears, what could they possible want to destroy the Earth for? "But you'll destroy the planet, this planet, this beautiful place. What for?"

The Doctor sneered. "Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space, an advert."

Margaret nodded in agreement. "Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chunks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."

Jessa glared. "At the cost of billions of lives."

"Bargain."

The Doctor gained a dark look. "Then I give you the choice: leave this planet or I'll stop you."

The Slitheen immediately burst out laughing. Between bursts of laughter Margaret let out, "What? You? Trapped in your box?"

The Doctor didn't look remotely offended. "Yes me." And he pressed the button to close the shutters once more. The last thing they saw was Margaret's smirk fall.

They watched the news once more, and realized that the United Nations were going to release the codes. Jackie called out through the phone. "Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do."

Rose and Harriet were talking on the phone, trying to figure out a way to stop the Slitheen. The Doctor walked over and stood against the wall, next to Jessa. She looked deep in thought.

He glanced over, "You know, don't you?"

"If we're referring to the way to save Earth, then yes."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Of course I'm not. But it'd be rather selfish to not do it and then have you and Rose die anyways."

The Doctor looked at her seriously. She looked so sure of what to do. "I could save the world, but lose you."

Jessa stared at him in utter surprise before she smiled softly. She was going to say something when Harriet, who neither had realized was listening along with Rose, interrupted.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine."

Rose, who was rather upset by the Doctor's previous statement, only nodded in agreement. Jackie however, was much more vocal. "And who the hell are you?"

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it." She said that with such ferocity, that the Doctor couldn't help but grin.

-9-

Rose hopped up onto the table. "How do we get out?"

The Doctor opened up the briefcase with the emergency protocols. "We don't. We stay here." He opened the emergency protocols. He shuffled through the papers and turned to the phone so he could talk to Mickey.

"Use the buffalo password. It overrides everything."

Jackie was confused. "What're you doing?"

Mickey responded, with a tone of voice that clearly said he couldn't believe it. "Hacking into the Royal Navy." He paused for a second. "We're in. Here it is, uh, H.M.S. Taureen, Trafalger Class Submarine. 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth."

The Doctor nodded to himself. "Right we need to select a missile."

"We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defense codes."

"We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?"

"Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A."

"That's the one. Select it. Ready for this?"

"Yeah." They all listened as a sound confirmed that Mickey pressed the button.

Harriet looked around them, tapping the occasional shutter. "How solid are these?"

Jessa responded. "Not solid enough, built for short range attack, nothing this big."

Rose saw a closet in the corner. She started walking over to it. "Alright, now I'm going to make the decision. I'm not gonna die, we're gonna ride this one out." She opened the door. "It's like what they say about earthquakes, you can survive them by standing under a doorframe. Now this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me! Come on!" Harriet rushed over to help her empty the closet.

The Doctor confirmed some final things with Mickey, and grabbed the phone. All four of them rushed into the closet. Since the space was so tight Jessa was practically sitting on top of the Doctor. This caused both of them to blush bright red. Ignoring it, all of them grabbed hands.

Harriet said, "Nice knowing you three." They braced themselves for the missile.

The Doctor hugged Jessa to him when the cupboard started shaking and tossing around. When it stopped he let go, and they all crawled out to find themselves in a pile of wreckage.

Harriet looked at the closet in satisfaction. "Made in Britain."

A sergeant ran up to them, looking surprised to find them alive. "Are you alright?"

Harriet didn't answer the question, just flashed him her ID badge. "Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. G on, tell the news!"

The sergeant looked a little bewildered, but answered anyways. "Yes ma'am." He ran away.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out."

The Doctor smiled at her knowingly. "Well, maybe you should have a go."

She laughed. "Me? I'm only a back-bencher."

Rose encouraged her. "We'd vote for you."

"Now, don't be silly." She was trying to be humble. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help." She started to climb through the rubble and yelled to the group of people. "Hang on! The Earth is safe!"

Rose, Jessa, and the Doctor all smiled before walking away. The Doctor had a satisfied smirk. "I thought I knew the name." He looked back. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms, the architect of Britain's Golden Age."

They turned back to the TARDIS and kept walking.

-9-

After a stop at Rose's flat, which Jessa stayed far away from, the Doctor pulled the TARDIS back into the vortex. Rose had already went to bed, and now Jessa was waiting for him to talk about what they had discussed earlier. He didn't know where to start with her. She lied, and he wasn't okay with that. At the same time, he hoped she had a very good reason.

Sighing, he turned around. "I need an explanation."

She didn't even pretend to play dumb. "I never lied to you. I am on the list of alien experts for reading those papers, it's just not what got me on there in the first place. A few years back I read all sorts of papers about space travel and aliens, and sometimes I even went to the places where aliens had been to study them. At first it was something of a necessary obsession, but after a while it became a hobby of mine. UNIT provided me with a lot of locations and papers but I never worked for them."

The Doctor, against his better judgement, started to get angry and jump to conclusions. "I see. That's why you're so smart. Why you know things you shouldn't. Why you didn't even hesitate to accept my offer to travel. You were using me. How long have you been planning our 'meeting'? Admit it, you are using me! You just wanted to study me like I'm another paper to read. You never cared, you stupid apes never do. All your questions were for research. I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU USED ME!"

He took a deep breath and looked at Jessa, she looked ready to cry. He felt a little guilty, but was too upset to really care. She yelled back, "You're wrong. Meeting you was a coincidence. I care about you, and I always will. How dare you accuse me of using you."

"How dare I? How dare you!" He turned back to the console. "I'm taking you home."

She let out a sob. He turned back around and saw a broken look in her eyes. "Please. Take me home. I've been trying for years now."

The Doctor was confused, and he slowly felt his anger disappear. "What?"

There were tears streaming down her face. Her voice was so sad, that it almost broke his hearts. "I can't go home. I don't even know if my home exists anymore. I'm not from Earth, at least not this one. I don't know how it happened, but one day I ended up on this Earth with no warning. That's why UNIT picked me up. They found out. I read those papers to find out if I could go back, and I just found it an interesting topic. I've long since given up hope of leaving this reality, so don't you DARE say I'm using you. Just don't!" She turned around and ran down the hallway.

The Doctor stared at her in shock. And wow if he didn't feel like a grade A jerk. So that was why she was different. She was from a different reality. He believed her when she said she wasn't really using him, because he never believed it himself, it was his temper acting out. Her questions were always about him, rarely ever about dimension travelling. He was really the one person who could understand what it was like to lose your home, and he just did that?

He sat debating with himself about what to do. It wasn't like he could say sorry, he just told her that she had used him and then on top of that he practically made her tell him about the alternate reality thing. Sorry didn't really cut it. And since emotions were never his strong suit, he did the easiest thing. Nothing.

-9-

After the argument, Jessa ran to her room and shut the door. She wasn't mad at the Doctor, not really. It was just thinking about her situation made her upset. Sure, she didn't like being accused of using someone, but it was a sound conclusion. But just because she wasn't mad didn't mean she wasn't hurt.

Sighing, she walked into the bathroom to take care of the makeup running down her face. She was about done when she saw it. It was hair dye. Dying her hair was something she'd been meaning to do for a while, she just never got around to it. Jessa thought it would be a symbolic as a new start. Now, she figured that it would be a task to take her mind off of things. First she dyed it black, and after that she made the ends varying shades of purple. When she was done, she was very satisfied how it turned out. And her plan had worked, her mind was off the issue, for now at least. She went back into her room and changed into pajamas. She immediately went to bed and fell asleep, not even realizing that she was crying again.


	6. Dalek

**Hey Guys! I'm back again. This chapter was one that I had a few ideas on what to do, but I had no idea which one to pick. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. This chapter is much longer than I originally intended, it's the longest one yet. I kept looking for places to end it, but I had to keep going. Enjoy!**

 **About reviews: First of all, thanks as always. Secondly, thanks for the ideas about what to do with the chapter, and I really liked them. But, this chapter was already half written when I posted the last one, so I couldn't have Jessa not in the episode. However the other suggestions were actually very close to what I was going to do. And Rose is going to keep being a jealous person, I've never disliked her but I think it fits here.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who, even though I really wished I did.**

* * *

The next morning called for a new adventure. The Doctor woke up in a good mood, until he remembered what had happened. Jessa would probably hate him, and he probably deserved it. He'd make it up to her somehow, because he didn't think he could take having her mad at him forever. After all he lov…liked her.

He walked into the console room to find, surprisingly, Rose there. She grinned at him. "Morning, ready for an adventure?"

He tried to smile back, he really did, but he could tell it looked fake. Especially if Rose's faltering grin was any indication. But he answered nevertheless. "Yep. Just have to wait for Jessa and we're off."

Not even a minute later Jessa walked out. Both he and Rose stared at her hair in shock. Jessa was a little startled. "Is it really that bad? I rather liked it."

That shook the Doctor out of his stupor. "No it's great. Fantastic really!" And he was being completely honest. The black really made her eyes stand out, and the purple complimented them as well. The look fit her really well, even better than the brown hair did.

She gave him a small smile, but her eyes were guarded. He slouched a little bit at that. He really messed up. But he'd ignore it until later. "So, now that we're all here we can get going." He pulled a lever and the TARDIS started shaking. All was well until the TARDIS was seemingly pulled off course and headed in an entirely different direction. This caused the Doctor to frown a little. When the shaking stopped they all stepped outside.

They were in what looked to be a museum. But it was obviously a museum for alien things. All around them were artifacts and diagrams of stuff from all sorts of different planets. They each looked at the stuff with varying degrees of interest. The Doctor was trying to find what had pulled them off course.

Rose apparently saw that and said. "So, what is it? What's wrong?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course…" He trailed off.

Jessa, who had been quiet asked. "Where are we anyways?"

"Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground." He was saddened when Jessa didn't reply like she usually did, only nodded.

Rose, who had noticed the tension between the Doctor and Jessa, with no small amount of joy and smugness, asked. "And when are we?"

"2012."

That startled Rose a little bit. "God, that's so close, so I should be 26." The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement of her comment, not really paying much attention. He walked over to a switch and flipped it. Lights immediately flooded the museum.

Rose stared in awe. "Blimey! It's a great big museum!" Jessa thought that that statement was rather obvious, but the Doctor replied anyways.

"An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust…that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship." The three walked past the exhibits as the Doctor absentmindedly named them, throwing occasional glances at Jessa. They passed one of the cases in particular when Rose pointed it out.

"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been stuffed." She pouted a bit when she realized that nobody was paying her much attention. The Doctor found something else.

"Ah! Look at you!"

Jessa stared at the thing. It was a silver head. Looked to be made of metal. Momentarily forgetting that she was upset with the Doctor said. "Isn't that a….?"

The Doctor nodded at the question, happy that she actually asked him something. "An old friend of mine…well enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old."

Inwardly, Jessa sighed. 'You're not the only one.'

Rose having no clue what the other two were talking about asked. "Is that where the signal's coming from?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, its stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out." He paused, staring at the case intently. "Calling for help." He lightly touched the glass, and immediately an alarm went off. They are promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing guns at them. As if by instinct, he reached out and pulled Jessa behind him.

Rose decided that now would be a good time to add. "If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A."

The Doctor grinned, and Jessa rolled her eyes. "Well it does now."

-9-

They were led into a room where two men were talking. The older one, took a small artifact from the younger one and asked. "What does it do?"

Jessa could tell that the younger one had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but in attempt to sound smart he answered anyways. "Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel…"

The Doctor interrupted. "I really wouldn't hold it like that."

The guard, apparently did not like that, and the Doctor got a "Shut it."

He looked mildly offended but he turned back to the two men. "Really, though, that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?"

"No. Just looks silly." Jessa could feel her lips twitch at that comment. The Doctor held out his hand for the artifact, but apparently the guards took that as a threat and pointed their guns up again. Jessa sighed, she really didn't think this was necessary. The older man seemed to agree, for he held up his hand to stop them, and handed the artifact over. The Doctor took it gently. "You just need to be…"

He ran a finger over the thing carefully and a soft note came out. "Delicate." He finished, and he beamed at everybody's impressed expressions while he played it. His smile lost a little bit of happiness when he looked at her. Jessa figured he thought that she was mad at him. She wasn't, just needed a little bit to get over what he said to her. It hurt, but he had made a sound conclusion so she couldn't really blame him for it. Their meeting did seem rather suspicious after all. But now was not the time to explain herself to him.

The older man, who she really needed to learn the name of, reached out his hand and said. "Here, let me." He grabbed it rather roughly from the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows.

"I did say 'delicate.' Reacts to the smallest fingerprint." The man rubbed his fingers over it, but the instrument did not play. He tried again but a series of bleeping noises came out. The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It needs precision." The man tried once more, and this time a few notes came out, which earned him a smile. "Very good. Quite the expert."

The man gained a suspicious look. "As are you." He tossed the instrument to the side, and it landed on the floor, startling everyone. The man just continued. "Who exactly are you?"

The Doctor looked at the man with a new glint of disdain. "I'm the Doctor. And who're you?"

The man scoffed, earning an annoyed look from Jessa. She hated people like this. "Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake." He said the last part in a way that indicated he didn't believe them.

The Doctor answered anyways. "Pretty much sums me up, yeah."

"The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down. With your little cat burglar accomplices. Quite a collector yourself, they're rather pretty." Jessa glared at him for that one, and she looked over and noticed that the Doctor was doing the same.

It was Rose who voiced all of their dislike. "She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her 'she.'"

The man looked back at the still glaring Doctor. "She's English too!" He turned to the younger man. "Hey, little Lord Faunterloy, got you a girlfriend."

The young man rolled his eyes. "This is Mr. Henry Van Statten."

Jessa was curious. "And what makes him important?"

"Mr. Van Statten owns the internet."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid, no one owns the internet."

Van Statten winked, making it seem as if everyone else was a child. "And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" This earned another annoyed glare from Jessa, who was already upset about the whole Doctor thing. She normally was a very kind and level headed person, but when she was hurt or mad it was best not to push her. And so when Van Statten turned out to be an arrogant man, she said something she normally wouldn't have.

"Yes, and let's just let the idiot keep thinking he's smart and owns the internet." Looking back, Jessa called this as her first mistake.

Van Statten was not happy to hear her opinion on that. "Just who do you think you are, child? You don't know what you're talking about, so leave it to the intelligent ones."

Jessa almost wanted to laugh at the age comment, if only he knew. "Yes, why don't we. So you can leave us here and the minute you're gone we can have an infinitely more intelligent conversation." Mistake number 2.

The Doctor gave her a warning look even if agreed with everything she was saying, but she ignored him as she'd been doing most of the trip. Van Statten was fuming, you could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. "Why you…" He trailed off.

"What was that? Were you going to finish that statement, or could you not comprehend what I said?" Mistake 3, and she's out.

"Guards!" He shouted. "Take her to the cells, and if she acts up, pick a place starting with a G."

"Good riddance! At least down there I don't have to be anywhere near you, I might catch your stupidity." The guards that were previously behind them came up and grabbed Jessa's arms from behind.

The Doctor was seething, and ready to protest. But before he could open his mouth Jessa stared at him, her eyes obviously saying not to do anything. She could take care of herself. Besides she didn't want to be anywhere near Van Statten, and the Doctor could pick her up before they left. Not to mention that she was a little ashamed of her temper and needed time to cool off. She hadn't thought the Doctor's words had affected her that much, but apparently they had and she had needed to vent. Van Statten was just the unfortunate person who made her irritated. The Doctor nodded, clearly not pleased with the situation. She looked over at Rose, who appeared a little smug.

Just before she was escorted out of earshot, she heard the Doctor say. "If she comes back in anything less than the condition she came in…" That was all she heard before being pulled out of earshot. They led her to an elevator that went down quite a few floors before the door opened. There were rows of cells, and she was unceremoniously shoved into the first one on the right. Luckily, she could see the surveillance camera footage, so she wouldn't be too bored. She watched as the Doctor went with Van Statten to a cell, different than her own. That one was made to torture. There was a creature in it, one Jessa remembered not so fondly. Just the thought of it made her want to cringe. She had been shot by one once, it had only grazed her arm, but it had hurt more than anything she could remember. She figured if this thing had hit her in the heart, she'd die. It might actually kill her, and it scared her a little. She watched in equal parts horror and satisfaction as the creature was tortured. She saw the Doctor be dragged out into a torture cell of his own.

After Van Statten pointed a device at the Doctor and he grimaced, her heart fell into her stomach. She didn't start crying until he was crying out in pain. Just because the idiot made her mad, didn't mean she wanted him to die. She ran up to the bars of the cell. "Let him out! He didn't do anything, stop it! He doesn't deserve this STOP IT!" She was banging on the bars calling out every foul name she could think. One of the guards walked up to her and pointed his gun.

"Stop making noise. Be quiet or I will force you to be." She reluctantly stopped screaming, and sat down. Her wrists were red from the force she used to hit the bars. She watched the screen with rapt attention, praying to every god she never believed in for him not to die.

Her attention was diverted when she saw Rose approach the creature the Doctor tortured earlier. Jessa knew the thing wasn't supposed to be touched. That was a rule back at….no she wouldn't think about that place, not right now. Her eyes widened when Rose kept getting closer to the creature. She ran back to the bars, not caring if she got shot. "You have to listen to me! Don't let that girl touch the alien. Please, radio them or something, just don't let her touch it! You don't understand. The thing will kill us all!" By the time they realized what she was talking about, it was too late. Rose had touched it. "Oh, Rose. What have you done?"

-9-

The Doctor was not enjoying his torture. But, he figured it was his fault, he'd revealed himself to someone like Van Statten. He'd come down here only to find another Dalek. He had thought they died, he had killed them but he was wrong. The thought made him want to scream.

He heard the panic and call for a code red outside the door. He knew what had happened. He looked up at Van Statten, ignoring the pain, and said. "Release me if you want to live."

He was met with a quick nod, and he was released. They both entered a lift, along with some guards, and rode up to Van Statten's office. The Doctor walked over to a monitor with a communication link on it. He turned back. "You've got to keep it in that cell." He left no room for argument.

Over the link he heard Rose speak. She sounded rather upset. "Doctor, it's all my fault." He normally would've responded to her, but he had no time for comfort.

Another idiot, who he really couldn't bother to learn the name of started speaking. "I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."

The Doctor would've rolled his eyes if the situation wasn't so serious. "The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat."

He watched on the screen as the Dalek left the cell easily, and was not damaged by any of the bullets fired, not that he thought it would be. Van Statten was not helping by saying. "Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!"

He didn't have time for this. "Rose, get out of there!" He couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something important. But he didn't have time for it now.

The tapping of a computer made him look at it. The person who was at the computer was getting rather frantic. "We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh my God. It's raiding entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."

The Doctor grimaced a little. "It's downloading."

"Downloading what?"

He was about to answer. When he was interrupted. "Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down"

That wasn't good. "It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything." This was said with a growing amount of panic.

"Sir, the cameras in the vault have gone down."

Things just kept getting better and better. "We've only got emergency power, it's eaten everything else, you've got to kill it now!" The Doctor didn't understand what was so difficult about the concept, but he knew he wouldn't be listened to.

He watched as Rose and Adam ran past, and then the Dalek got to the guards. They never even stood a chance, and it made him angry.

Van Statten made him even angrier. "Tell them to stop shooting at it!"

His employee obviously disagreed. "It's killing them!" Well at least someone had some sense.

"They're dispensable, that Dalek is unique." Van Statten spoke into the intercom. "I don't want a scratch on its body work. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?" The Doctor just looked at the man with so much disgust on his face. Some humans were really the worst type of species. He turned back to the screen to find every soldier dead.

Van Statten who after that, decided finally to be somewhat useful and pulled out a map. The employee, now dubbed Goddard, pointed to a specific area. "That's us right below the surface. That's the cage and that's the Dalek."

He had an idea. "This, museum of yours, have you got any alien weapons?"

Goddard nodded. "Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them."

Van Statten made another stupid comment. "We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there."

"Leaving everyone trapped with it? Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" The Doctor took another look at the map and froze. It couldn't be. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Are the regular cells above or below us?"

"Below."

He staggered. He hadn't forgotten about Jessa, he'd never do that. He had assumed that she would be above the level he was on, that was what had made sense. You don't keep human cells lower than the alien ones, you keep them up top so if police have to come they don't into the secret alien museum. It was an illogical design to keep human cells low. He had assumed that the cells were above him, he planned for that. He wouldn't have to worry about Jessa unless the Dalek got past him, which he had no intentions of that happening. But she was below which meant he needed to worry. Now not only Rose was down there, but so was Jessa. And he had no idea if Jessa was even alive, the Dalek had already been past the floor she would be on. The likelihood of her being alive was bad. He wanted to scream and hit something, but he couldn't. There was still a chance, and Rose was down there as well.

He focused back on the map. "It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapons testing."

"Give guns to the lawyers, technicians, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it."

Goddard nodded and got up. He took her place.

Of course Van Statten had to come back. "I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate, there must be something it needs, everything needs something."

Not taking his eyes off the screen, the Doctor asked. "What's the nearest town?"

"Saltlake City."

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature, that's all it needs."

Van Statten's face was red, he was frustrated. "But why would it do that?"

"Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose."

He turned back and spoke into the comm. at the soldiers who were in the weapons testing area. "Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

The commander, who looked much too sure of himself, nodded, "Thank you, Doctor. But I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" It was soon after this that vision came back to the monitor.

"It wants us to see." The Doctor said sadly.

The soldiers all readied themselves, but held their fore when Adam and Rose ran through. Rose stopped, but eventually Adam pulled her along. The Dalek rolled in and the soldiers all shot, but there was no effect. The bullets just rippled off of an invisible force field. The Dalek lifted its stalk and shot at the fire alarm. The sprinklers went off, leaving the ground covered in water. The Dalek shot at a soldier and the electricity from that caused anybody in the water to drop as well. The commander called for a fall back, but the Doctor knew that it was too late for any of them. He looked down, somewhat in shock.

Van Statten was obviously stunned. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, maybe we should consider abandoning this place."

Goddard, who looked a bit outraged said. "Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out."

The Doctor got an idea. "You said you could seal the vault."

Van Statten nodded, as he walked to the computer. "It was designed to be a bunker. In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads…"

Goddard shook his head. "There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive."

His idea could work. "We've got emergency power, we can re-route that to the bulkhead doors, but we'd need a computer genius."

"Good thing you've got me, then."

He stared at Van Statten, stunned. "You want to help?"

"I don't want to die, Doctor, simple as that." He corrected. "Nobody knows this software better than me." Just as he said this, the screen came back to life. The Dalek stood in the same spot it had been.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor."

He slowly straightened himself up, not taking his eyes off the Dalek. "You're going to get rusty."

He was ignored. "I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."

The Doctor nodded. "What's your next trick?"

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

Again with that. "Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet." He walked closer to the screen. "What did you find?" He asked this already knowing what the answer would be.

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."

"And?" He prompted.

"Nothing." Its voice was rising, almost as if it was scared, but that wasn't possible. At least it shouldn't be. "Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands."

That seemed to make it angrier. "Then I shall follow the primary order, the Dalek instinct to destroy! To conquer!"

The Doctor was getting frustrated and exasperated. "What for? What's the point?" He paused, and when the Dalek didn't answer, he continued. "Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"Then what should I do?"

He thought about it. "Alright then. If you want orders…follow this one; kill yourself."

If the Dalek could shake his head, the Doctor figured that's what this one would be doing. "The Daleks must survive!"

He was getting angry now, why couldn't it understand? "The Daleks have failed. Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth, why don't you just die?" By the end of that he was shouting. The last word was said as though it were venom.

The Dalek was silent for a minute until it said. "You would make a good Dalek." And the screen went blank once more.

The Doctor sat there staring at it for a minute before grimly saying. "Seal the vaults."

Van Statten immediately started putting commands into the computer. "I can leech power off the ground defenses, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I had to work this fast." The last part was said with barely contained excitement.

The Doctor stared disbelievingly. "Are you enjoying this?"

They were interrupted by Goddard. "Doctor, they're still down there."

He pulled out his phone and called Rose. He let out a little sigh of relief when he heard her say. "This isn't the best time."

He didn't acknowledge that. "Where are you?"

"Level 49."

He silently cursed, and went back to typing on the computer. "You've got to keep moving, the vault's being sealed off, bulkhead level 46."

"Can't you stop them closing?"

"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run!" He could tell she was about to hang up so he called out. "Wait, Rose."

"Yes Doctor?"

"Have you seen Jessa down there?" He had to know if she was already out, or if he was about to condemn her to death.

There was a pause. "No."

He didn't know whether to cry from anguish or relief. Jessa could either be out or dead, and he hoped with everything he had that it was the former. "OK. Now, run."

He heard Van Statten next to him. "Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads."

"The Dalek's right behind them." Goddard pointed out. That certainly made him feel better.

He felt even worse when he heard Rose through the phone again. "We're nearly there, give us two seconds." He didn't say that he didn't have two seconds to give. Even if that was the truth.

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing." Van Statten remarked. The Doctor just looked at him so Van Statten continued. "Doctor you've got to close the bulkheads."

And he paused, saying nothing. Did he really have the power to close this? To hand over Rose and maybe even Jessa to the Dalek? But then he thought about the Dalek. If it got out, everybody would be in danger. He couldn't do that. So, with that in mind, he gathered up his courage and spoke into the phone. "I'm sorry." And then he closed the bulkheads. There was silence while they all stared at the screen.

It was Van Statten that spoke first. "The vault is sealed."

The Doctor leapt out of his seat. "Rose, where are you? Did you make it?"

And there was a voice on the other end. "Yeah, Rose made it." It was Jessa.

A huge wave of relief filled him, but it quickly turned to dread at her next words. "But she dropped her phone on the way out."

Shock. He couldn't think, he couldn't do anything but stare. He managed to choke out one word. "How?" What exactly he was asking he wasn't too sure. How did she get there? How didn't she make it? How was he going to live with himself after this?

She seemed to know what he was talking about. "After I got out of the cell, there was a tunnel, and I took it. Led me right to here, but I was a bit late. I was there just in time to see Rose go under the door before it closed." She paused and he heard her let out a shaky breath. "It's almost here."

And the Doctor was just silent in a growing amount of horror. He wanted to say something but there was nothing to say.

She beat him to it. "Well I guess this is it then." Her voice was calm, but he could hear the fear but mostly there was sadness. "I don't regret it, just so you know. In fact I'd do it again. But remember something for me Doctor. It's not your fault, so don't go wallowing in your guilt. Not like the last time you told me about. Go have an adventure for me." There was a pause and then Jessa said one more thing, so quietly he knew that only he had heard it. "Goodbye my Doctor."

And nothing. But then, he heard a loud "Exterminate." Followed by the unmistakable sound of the Dalek's ray. He ripped the earpiece off, and rubbed his eyes furiously.

"I killed her." He was going numb now.

Van Statten let out an "I'm sorry."

That made him angry. "I was supposed to protect her. She was my best friend, and she d..died mad at me." He let out a shaky breath. "She was only here because of me, and you're sorry. I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten tried to defend himself.

He started seeing red. "Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Jessa?" He paused, and the silence was deafening. "Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore. To be part of something greater."

Van Statten stood up in enthusiasm. "Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt. And label them. You're about as far from the stars you can get." The Doctor bit back. His face softened. "And you took her down with you." He stared into space, lost in thought.

It was like that until the door opened, with Rose and Adam stepping through. Rose looked happy to see him, but he didn't share her enthusiasm. He, of course, was glad that Rose was all right but he lost Jessa. Smiling wasn't something he could see doing in the near future.

He was going to talk to them when the screen sprang back to life. It showed the Dalek next to, "Jessa?" He couldn't believe it, he hadn't killed her. "You're alive!" He was ecstatic, there were better situations to be in, but alive was always a good thing.

Jessa looked at him and smiled. "Hello!"

"I thought you were dead."

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by the Dalek. "Open the bulkhead." It demanded. Jessa shook her head at him, telling him not to do it. As if he was going to listen.

The Dalek spoke again. "What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"

That statement visibly startled Jessa, as much it did him. It wasn't true was it? Nah, couldn't be. Jessa was just a friend. The Doctor turned around and looked at a shocked Van Statten. "I killed her once. I can't do it again." He hit the button to open the bulkhead.

The Doctor ran out the door and into Adam's workshop. He started sorting through everything, looking for a usable weapon. He found one and ran towards Jessa. He didn't even notice that Rose and Adam had followed him, or when they walked back to the office.

-9-

Jessa was beginning to wish she had stayed inside her cell, or even better, inside the TARDIS. She was currently in the elevator with a Dalek. It surprised her that it hadn't killed her yet. But, she had a working theory as to why that was. "So." She began.

"You will be silent."

"Okay then."

The elevator opened to reveal Van Statten, and for reason, Rose. Rose looked absolutely terrified. The Dalek rolled up to them. "Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?"

Van Statten started backing away in fear. "I wanted to help you, I just…. I don't know. I was just trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you… I wanted you better, I'm sorry." Jessa found herself trying to hold back a scoff at his lie. Apparently the Dalek didn't believe him either. It continued its way towards the man. In a last ditch effort, he yelled. "I'm so sorry! I swear I just wanted to hear you talk!"

"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!" The three people in the room winced.

It was then that Rose rushed forward. "Don't do it! Don't kill him!" To everyone's amazement, the Dalek listened. It turned to face her. Taking it as a good sign, Rose continued. "You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing….what else is there? What do you want?"

The Dalek paused. "I want freedom." And then it left with Rose walking next to it, and followed by Jessa whose mouth was hanging open.

The group reached a corridor. The Dalek shot a hole into the ceiling, and sunlight poured in. The Dalek stood in the sunlight.

Rose had a smile on her face. "You're out. You made it."

"How does it feel?" The Dalek asked her. It then did something that almost made Jessa think that this was all a bizarre dream. The Dalek opened up its shell, revealing a mutated blob inside. It stretched what could only be its arms towards the sunlight. Jessa, who had been standing a few feet away, was pulled into a hug from behind her. She looked up to find the face of the Doctor. He let her go and said. "It's good to see you again." Then he turned to the Dalek holding up a gun. "Rose, get out of the way."

Rose stared at him, but she made no sign of moving. "No."

"That thing killed hundreds of people."

She glared. "It's not the one pointing the gun at me."

The Doctor looked somewhat desperate. "I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left."

"You've got me and Rose." The Doctor turned back to look at her. "I know it's not the same, but it's something. And I think it's a rather good something as well." He smiled at her before turning back to the Dalek, still reaching for the sunlight. An understanding went across the Doctor's face, and he lowered the gun.

The Dalek spoke. "I am the last of the Daleks."

The Doctor shook his head. "You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You absorbed her DNA. You're mutating"

"Into what?"

"Something new. I'm sorry."

Rose was confused. "Isn't that better?"

"Not for a Dalek."

"I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders! Order me to die." It sounded so full of desperation and fear, that Jessa felt pity for it.

Rose turned to the Dalek. "I can't do that."

"This is not life. This is sickness."

She contemplated sadly for a minute before saying. "Do it."

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?"

"Yeah."

"So am I. Exterminate." Rose ran over to the other two. The Dalek replaced its armor and levitated into the air. It surrounded itself in a sphere, it glowed for a moment then exploded before vanishing into nothing.

-9-

Rose walked towards what she thought was the kitchen. They had left the museum soon after the Dalek had died. Rose had convinced the Doctor to take Adam with them. Adam was nice, and she liked him, but she had thought that maybe he might make the Doctor jealous. It really hadn't worked, he had just teased her and went into the TARDIS with Jessa. Jessa. Something had happened between her and the Doctor, but she didn't know what. Rose found herself hoping it might bring their friendship down a couple of notches. She didn't like jealous people and was mad at herself for being so jealous. But the Doctor was special, and she wanted to be his favorite, not Jessa.

She was coming up on the room she assumed was the kitchen, but when she got there she found she had actually been going towards the console room. She heard voices from inside, and stepped behind a pillar to listen.

"I thought you had died today." That was from the Doctor.

"And I thought I was going to die." And that was Jessa.

"Why didn't you though? Don't get me wrong I'm glad you didn't, but I don't understand why."

"I have a theory about that. Rose touched the Dalek, it took her DNA. Since Rose knows me, and as far as I know likes me, the Dalek felt the need not to kill me because Rose wouldn't kill me."

"Makes sense." There was an awkward pause after that, before the Doctor spoke up once more. "I didn't mean what I said you know."

"I know, but that doesn't make it okay."

"Then what does?" He sounded almost pleading.

"Nothing. I just need a little bit of time. I know you, and I trust you with things I've never told anybody. You should know that I would never use you like that, you're my best friend. And it hurt when you called me a liar. But I'll get over it." She paused, and Rose could tell she wanted him to say something, but he kept quiet. "Goodnight Doctor." Jessa got up and walked right by her hiding spot. After a few minutes the Doctor left the console room as well, looking upset.

Rose had no idea what those two were talking about, but it sounded like the Doctor messed up. She sighed. She knew Jessa wouldn't forgive him completely until he apologized, which Rose knew he would eventually. So much for ruining the friendship. She went back to her room, and fell asleep, forgetting why she had gotten up in the first place.


	7. The Long Game

**Hey Guys! Me Again! Next chapter is done. Next one is Father's Day which as I said is a very important one, and I can't wait.**

 **Thank you so much for the support on this story. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to write this POV wise and I'm so grateful that people still read it with all its problems.**

 **I don't own Doctor Who, even though I wish I did.**

* * *

It had been two days since the Dalek incident. During this time, Jessa and the Doctor's relationship hadn't gotten any better, but it hadn't gotten any worse either. They talked, but it wasn't like before. Jessa wasn't avoiding the Doctor, but she wasn't actively seeking him out either. It was taking its toll on both of them. Both had dark circles under their eyes, and both were a bit more irritable. In truth, this was because neither could stand not talking to the other, and things might not be the same between them again. The thought kept them up at night. So when they wake up and see the dark shadows under each other's eyes, they become worried for the other because neither knew what's wrong with the other. They didn't even begin to think it's the same thing that's keeping them up. The Doctor because he thinks Jessa is angry, and Jessa because she thinks the Doctor won't apologize because he doesn't want to.

Of course they can't ask the other what's wrong, because they aren't that close anymore, and it makes both of them stressed. So, all around it's a circle of not good. And when the next adventure started they were both generally unpleasant people to be around. Because without each other, they both are miserable.

-9-

The Doctor landed the TARDIS at a news station. Something was wrong here, but he didn't know what. He stepped out, followed by Rose and Jessa. The latter still mad at him, and he didn't know what to do about it. Not to mention something was wrong with her. She looked like she hadn't slept in a few weeks, and it worried him. But he couldn't just ask. So he would do other things to keep his mind off of it.

"So, it's 200,000, and it's a spaceship…no wait a minute, space station, and uh..go and try that gate over there."

Rose looked back at him. "200,000?"

He nodded his confirmation.

"'Kay."

The Doctor gave her a grin, even if it was a little forced, he did enjoy her enthusiasm. She didn't seem to notice his lack of sincerity. She giggled and opened the door of the TARDIS and called inside. "Adam? Out you come."

Adam stepped out and his mouth fell open. "Oh my God."

Rose laughed at him. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Where are we?" He asked, still awestruck.

Rose was trying to sound knowledgeable. "Good question. Let's see. So, um…judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000." Adam nodded, still staring.

The Doctor heard a snort behind him. He turned and saw Jessa roll her eyes fondly. He quickly turned back so she wouldn't see him staring or his small smile.

Rose continued. "If you listen…engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down…tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on!" She opened the gate and they all followed her, the Doctor wanting to grab Jessa's hand, but he didn't.

They ended up in a room that overlooked the Earth. "Here we go! And this is…" Rose paused as she looked down at the Earth. Adam had to hold onto the railing for support as he walked over to her side. Jessa was also staring at the Earth with a fond smile. Rose sounded a little awestruck herself now. "I'll let the Doctor describe it."

He nodded. "The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is. Planet Earth at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons- population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species- with mankind right in the middle."

Behind them Adam fainted. Nobody bothered to turn around but Jessa did comment. "Good one you picked there, Rose."

Rose looked disappointed. "I don't pick him anymore."

After Adam woke up, they continued to walk around the station. "You're going to like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent- culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners…" He was interrupted by a man pushing past him.

"Out of the way!" Everything around them sprang to life. Stall keepers opened up shop. Everybody was pushing and shoving their way around, and the food looked extremely greasy. Jessa looked around. "Yes, I can see it now. The fine cuisine, and everybody is so well mannered." The sarcasm was dripping off her voice.

The Doctor looked at his watch. "My watch must be wrong." He tapped it. "No, it's fine….weird."

"That's what comes from showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Said Rose.

He shook his head. "My history's perfect."

Rose poked him teasingly. "Well, obviously not…" He didn't answer her, he wasn't really in the mood for joking.

Adam also looked skeptical. "They're all human. What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?"

The Doctor looked around. "Good question. Actually that IS a good question." He put his arm around Adam. "Adam, you must be starving." Really he just wanted to get rid of Adam.

"No, I'm just a bit time sick."

"No, you just need food." He couldn't get rid of Adam if Adam didn't go anywhere. He turned to one of the chefs. "Oi, mate, how much is a cronk burger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue."

Right. "Money. We need money." He walked over to a cash point, and pointed his sonic screwdriver at it. "Have to use a cash point." He clicked a button and a credit card type thing fell out. He handed it to Adam. "There you go- pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets." And he walked away.

Adam was not done. "How does it work?"

The Doctor was getting irritated. "Go and find out! Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers." Rose laughed, Adam had his brow furrowed in confusion, and Jessa smiled as though she got some inside joke. The Doctor looked at her. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, just found it funny that that's exactly how my first trip to Paris went."

The Doctor pushed down the pang of jealousy he felt at that, and turned back to Adam. "Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" He shooed the boy away, then turned to Rose. "Off you go then! Your first date."

Rose glared playfully. "You're going to get a smack, you are." And then she went after Adam.

The Doctor hadn't thought this through. He was stuck alone with Jessa. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, but the two were on awkward terms. Jessa seemed to realize this as well as she was staring at the floor. Shaking this thought off, the Doctor turned to two people walking by. "Erm…this is going to sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?"

One of the girls, the one with black hair, pointed to a huge sign on the wall that read '139.' "Floor 139…..could they write it any bigger?"

Well, he could see that. "Floor 139 of what?"

She snorted. "Must've been a hell of a party."

Her friend answered for her. "Oh, you're on Satellite Five."

Jessa sighed. "And what's Satellite Five?" She asked.

The black haired one looked them over, a bit disbelievingly. "Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?"

"Well let's pretend, for arguments sake, that I'm stupid." Both she and the Doctor knew she wasn't, but they weren't going to believe the real answer.

"Hang on, wait a minute, are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?" Well, that could work.

He pulled out his psychic paper. "You've got us. Well done. You're too clever." He showed them the paper.

Both girls looked at the paper in his hand, before the one with black hair nodded eagerly. "Right. Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to floor 500, I'll do anything."

He was about to open his mouth when Jessa beat him to it. "First off, your names." She paused. "For the official report. Just first names will do."

The one with the black hair nodded. "Alright. I'm Cathica and that is Suki."

Jessa nodded. "Alright now, you mentioned something about floor 500. What happens there?" The Doctor was curious about that two.

Cathica looked at them funnily, as if they wouldn't know, but quickly composed herself. "The walls are made of gold. And you should know…..Mr. and Mrs. Management." The Doctor looked at her with a weird look for implying that they were married. He looked over and saw Jessa doing the same. Cathica continued, oblivious. "So….this is what we do." She walked away, and toward a large screen with many clips of news stories on it. "Latest news…..sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day….spacelane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant."

The Doctor heard muffled laughter, and looked over to see Jessa covering her mouth, with amusement in her eyes. He remembered her odd friendship with the old face, and he guessed she was laughing at the fact that a face was pregnant. She looked over at him, and caught him staring. She quickly looked away and back at the screen. He frowned and did the same.

Cathica was still mumbling about news stories, and he cut her off. "I get it. You broadcast the news." He almost expected Jessa to hit him for that, but she didn't. She hadn't done that since their argument.

Cathica did not look put out by his comment. "We ARE the news." She corrected. The other girl, Suki, had been trying to catch his eye. She'd been trying since he had introduced himself. He looked at her, and she smiled, so he smiled back. Albeit it was a quick one. Cathica just kept talking. "We're the journalists. We write it, package it, and sell it. 600 channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere."

After the quick tour, the Doctor and Jessa headed back towards where they had left Rose and Adam. As soon as they had gotten near the table, an alarm sounded. Everybody started to leave the area immediately. The Doctor looked over to see Adam and Rose look around, startled. He yelled at them "Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here." Rose beamed and ran over.

-9-

Jessa had seen it. She was sure that the Doctor hadn't noticed. He only paid attention to Rose. She watched as Adam discreetly stuck Rose's phone in his pocket. Obviously hoping that the girl would forget about it. Jessa narrowed her eyes. Something was off about Adam, and her sleep deprived state made her even more paranoid than usual. Adam got up and joined them as soon as he had hid the phone. They were led into a circular white room. There was a pathway around the outside, and the middle was a lowered section with a chair in the center.

Cathica walked into the middle of the platform, and Suki went off to the other side to take her place in the circle surrounding the chair. That left Adam, Rose, the Doctor, and her to stand behind the railings. Cathica cleared her throat to gather the attention of the people in the room who were now standing next to Suki. "Now. Everybody behave. We can have a management inspection." She turned to the Doctor. "How do you want it? By the book?"

The Doctor gave a nod. Jessa turned to look at him. Normally, he would've made some overly cheerful remark, but not now. She'd noticed the circles under his eyes were getting darker, more than usual anyways. He looked dead tired. She was worried about him, but she couldn't ask him about it. The last time she had tried to talk to him it hadn't gone well. But she was worried about him nonetheless.

Jessa was pulled out of her thoughts by Cathica speaking once more. "Ok, so ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided, or robot." Jessa almost snorted at that, but that would be entirely inappropriate. Ok, maybe she let out a little snort. "My name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a 'C' in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please…do." Cathica sent a meaningful look towards both her and the Doctor before turning back. "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy." She turned again to smile at both her and the Doctor.

Suki interrupted. "Actually…it's the law." She also smiled at the both of them.

Cathica, now irritated, looked at Suki. "Yes, thank you Suki." She turned to the others. "Okay, keep it calm….don't show off for the guests….here we go." She sat down in the chair. "And...engage safety."

Everybody except for Cathica, and the three on the balcony, lifted their hands over the hand pads in front of them. The wall behind them lit up. The four who had never seen this, looked around in fascination. Cathica lifted up her hand and snapped her fingers. A little door in the center of her forehead appeared and opened. Jessa felt her eyebrows raise, and her eyes widen fractionally. She looked over, the Doctor appeared to be disgusted, Rose alarmed, and Adam was leaning in trying to get a closer look. Jessa held her gaze on him, she was still suspicious, he seemed a little too interested.

Once the door in her forehead had opened, Cathica counted down. "And 3…2…and spike." The contraption over the chair started to glow blue, and a spike of the light shot down into Cathica's head.

Jessa heard herself ask, in a fairly grossed out voice. "What is that?"

It was the Doctor who answered. "Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer." His voice was off, Jessa decided. Something in his tone, she could almost call it confused, but confused about what?

Rose broke her out of her thoughts. "If it all goes through her, she must be a genius."

"Nah. She wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much, her head would blow up." The Doctor informed her. He began to walk around the room, Rose followed him. "The brain's processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

"So, what about all these people round the edge?" Rose glanced at them.

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her…" Rose knelt down next to one of said people. "and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place." He completed his way around the room, and leaned on the wall next to her and Adam. "Now, that's what I call power."

Jessa looked over to Adam, he seemed a bit pale. Funny, he seemed very intrigued when this first happened. She couldn't prove he was faking it, but she just had a feeling he was. Rose seemed to notice him too. "Are you alright?"

"I can see her brain." Adam replied.

"Do you want to get out?"

He shook his head fast enough to almost break his neck. "No, no. This is technology, this is amazing."

The Doctor butt into their conversation. "This technology's wrong." Ah, so that's why the Doctor had sounded confused.

The other two had not picked up on that earlier. "Trouble?" Rose asked him.

"Oh yeah." He smirked.

Suddenly, there was a shuddering sound. Suki, from her place, twitched. Then, she gasped and pulled her hand away as though she'd been shocked. Everyone else in the circle was forced to remove their hands as well. The wall lights turned off, and the blue spike of information disappeared. Suki looked thoroughly startled, and rubbed her hands.

Cathica snapped out of the trance like state she had been in when she was receiving information. She glared at Suki. "Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?"

Suki continued to look at her hands. "Sorry, must've been a glitch."

Cathica stood up, and looked ready to tell Suki off, but a loudspeaker interrupted her. "Promotion." It said. A projection was cast onto the wall. Cathica's mood seemed to do a complete 180. She was happier than Jessa had seen her since their introduction.

Cathica stood there praying, borderline begging. "This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name." Personally Jessa couldn't see the appeal. So what if the walls were made of gold? What makes that fact alone so great? The girl kept on praying, though, as if her life depended on it. Her eyes were screwed shut. "Say my name, say my name…."

The speaker interrupted Cathica's mantra. "Promotion for….. Suki Macrae Cantrell." Suki's name flashed on the wall. Suki herself looked as though a small breeze could knock her over. Her mouth was hanging wide open.

Cathica, on the other hand, looked as though she had been punched. Even more so as the speaker continued. "Please proceed to Floor 500." Suki stood up and just stared at the wall.

"I don't believe it, Floor 500."

Cathica was back to her usual moody self. "How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!"

"I don't know, I just applied on the off chance….and they've said yes!"

"That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!"

Beside her Jessa heard Rose ask the Doctor, "What's floor 500?"

He shrugged. "The walls are made of gold."

They all followed Suki to the elevators to see her off to Floor 500. Suki looked at her 'friend.' "Cathica, I'm going to miss you!" She got a distant look in her eyes. "Floor 500….." She shook her head and looked at her head and looked at Jessa and the Doctor. "Thank you both!"

Both simultaneously shook their heads at the same time. "We didn't do anything."

"Yeah, didn't get our reports filed in yet." Jessa added.

"Well you two are my lucky charms anyways." Jessa was pretty sure that she was the only one who noticed Rose's brief scowl at that statement. But the girl turned around to talk to Adam before Jessa could make anything of it. She watched the two's interactions closely. Adam looked like he wanted to leave, while Rose was trying to look like she felt sorry about something, but was failing miserably.

Jessa couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Rose pull out her TARDIS key and handed it over. What did she think she was doing? Adam was not to be trusted, surely she wasn't the only one who could see that? She looked over at the Doctor, but he wasn't paying any attention. She watched Adam walk off, doing a little happy dance as he went. She'd need to keep an eye on him. Jessa turned back just in time to see the doors close on an excited looking Suki.

Cathica's face resembled what one would look like after swallowing a lemon. "Good riddance." She said.

The Doctor watched her, his brow furrowed. "You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." The man had a good point.

"We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back." Well that was strange.

The Doctor turned to Cathica. "Have you ever been up there?"

She scoffed bitterly. "No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few."

The three of them and Cathica went back into the spike room. The Doctor hadn't mentioned or, more likely in Jessa's opinion, hadn't noticed Adam's absence. Cathica turned to face them. "Look, they only give you twenty minutes for maintenance, can't you give it a rest?" The Doctor seemed very set to figure out why nobody travelled between floors.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" He asked as he sat down on the chair himself, looking extremely comfortable. Rose was leaning on the back of the chair. Jessa sat on the railing, dangling her feet in front of her. They sat and waited for Cathica's answer.

"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived, that's medical. That's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite 5, you work, eat, and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." She paused, and then eyed them suspiciously. "You're not management, are you?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned, Jessa didn't even know that was possible. "At last! She's clever!" He cried out.

Cathica looked at him strangely. "Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?"

She thought about it. "Well, why would I?"

Jessa sighed, and she basically snapped at the poor woman. "You're a journalist! You were made to ask questions, so why aren't you?" That might have come out a little meaner then she meant it to, but she was tired.

The Doctor looked at her, she couldn't tell the emotion because he looked away as soon as she caught his eye. He turned back to Cathica. "Why's all the crew human?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica asked him.

"There's no aliens on board, why?"

She looked lost for an answer. "I don't know." A pause. "There's no real reason, they're not banned or anything."

The Doctor waved his hands around dramatically. "Then where are they?"

That stumped her. "I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what, with all the threats." It was obvious to Jessa that the woman really had no idea, and was guessing.

"What threats?" The Doctor seemed to catch on to this too.

"I don't know….all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away." They all watched her intently. "Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming. You see, just….lots of little reasons. That's all." Cathica looked like she was trying to convince herself now.

The Doctor nodded. "Adding up to one big fact, and you didn't even notice."

"Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."

Jessa rolled her eyes. That was terribly cheesy. But so was the Doctor's next line. "I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology." Cue another eye roll from the purple eyes.

Cathica looked offended at the Doctor's comment. "It's cutting edge!"

"It's backwards." He said adamantly. "There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago." That was a bit concerning.

Rose, who had been silent, asked, "So, what do you think is going on?"

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back."

"And how would you know?" Cathica shot him a disbelieving look.

That earned her a bland look. "Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years, when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?"

She seemed reluctant to answer. "91 years…." The Doctor nodded, and then they sat in silence. Jessa sat trying not to fall asleep, as she'd almost done four times since she got there.

Soon after the Doctor decided what they were going to do. He headed out the door and walked down the corridor, he stopped when they found the mainframe. Cathica kept glancing around nervously. "We're so going to get in trouble." That was ignored, and the Doctor just pulled out his screwdriver and scanned what was in front of him. She tried again. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're going to get told off."

"We're only going to get told off if we get caught, and we're only going to get caught if you continue talking loud enough for the entire station to hear. So, for the sake of my sanity, I ask you to kindly button it." Jessa could've sworn she heard a chuckle coming from the Doctor at her statement.

Cathica glared. "This has nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work."

The Doctor waved. "Go on then! See ya!"

Jessa almost groaned when she turned back. "I can't just leave you, can I?"

"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with the place, can't they do something about it?" Rose commented off handedly. Jessa had noticed that as well. It was hot in the station, a lot hotter than what would be considered normal.

Cathica answered Rose's question. "I don't know, we keep asking, something to do with the turbine."

The Doctor made quotes with his fingers. "Something to do with the turbine." He said mockingly.

Cathica glared at him. "Well, I don't know!"

"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica." He paused, and threw a quick glance at Jessa before turning to Rose. "Now, Rose. Look at Rose." Jessa saw Rose absolutely beam. "Rose is asking the right kind of questions."

She kept smiling. "Oh, thank you."

"Why is it so hot?"

"One minute you're worried about the Empire, and the next it's the central heating!" Jessa was pretty sure that Cathica was at the end of her rope.

"Well never underestimate the plumbing. Plumbing's very important. " The Doctor said seriously. Just as he said that though, he snapped a bunch of wires accidentally. Cathica turned away from all of them, exasperated.

For the next few minutes, Jessa watched as the Doctor hacked into the mainframe. She needed to get away soon. Adam had left, and Jessa didn't trust that he went back to the TARDIS. He was up to no good.

Her musings came to an end when the Doctor spoke up. "Here we go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." He moved aside so everyone could look.

Cathica shook her head. "This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange….and you're looking at pipes?"

The Doctor nodded at her. "But there's something wrong."

"The ventilation system is wrong. Massive amounts of heat are being pumped down from the top." Jessa said. That's not how heating systems were supposed to work.

"Floor 500." Rose declared.

"Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat."

Rose got a grin on her face. "Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?" She said this more to the Doctor than anyone.

Cathica immediately protested. "You can't. You need a key."

"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." He pointed at the screen in front of him. "Here we go, override 215.9"

"How come it's giving you the code?"

He shrugged, but looked into the security camera above them. "Someone up there likes me."

The lift pinged and opened at their floor. Rose and the Doctor immediately hopped in, while she and Cathica stayed behind. Rose looked at them. "Come on, you two."

"No way!" Cathica shook her head.

Jessa also stayed. "You guys go, I'm not feeling to well. I'm just going to head back." She was really going to find Adam, but they didn't need to know.

The Doctor looked at her and frowned, but nodded. "Well, bye then." He looked a little disappointed.

Cathica looked at the two in the elevator. "Well, don't mention my name. When you get into trouble, just don't involve me!" She stalked off. Jessa gave one last look behind her, and went in search of Adam. Well that's what she meant to do, but when she saw Cathica get on the elevator, Jessa couldn't help but follow.

-9-

The elevator ride up was relatively silent. Beside him, Rose was waiting in anticipation. He didn't know why Jessa hadn't come with. Maybe she was telling the truth, and didn't feel good, but he doubted it. Whatever it was, he hoped she didn't do something stupid.

When the lift reached Floor 500, they both stepped out. The Doctor looked around. "The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs."

Rose looked at him as though he were crazy. "Tough." He sighed, and they kept walking until they got to a control room of some kind the place was freezing. All around there were desks with what looked like to be dead people in the chairs. In the center of the room stood a man. He had white hair and was wearing a suit. He watched the screens in front of him.

Then, he spoke. "I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, but you two, you and your little friend, you three don't exist!" He laughed. "Not a trace! No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

Beside him, Rose spotted Suki sitting at one of the desks. She rushed over. "Suki! Suki!" Rose knelt down next to the girl, but Suki did not respond. "Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?" She glared at the man. "What have you done to her?"

The Doctor voiced his opinion. "I think she's dead."

Rose looked confused. "She's working…"

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets." The thought disgusted him.

The man laughed. "Ohhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one." He laughed again, and the Doctor nodded. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you." He turned to Rose. "Come on."

He tried to leave, but two drones came out and restrained him. Rose tried to stand as well, but Suki grabbed her arm.

The man wasn't laughing anymore. "Tell me who you are!"

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I?" The Doctor replied sarcastically.

The smile was back, the man seemed as if he knew something nobody else did. "Well perhaps my Editor and Chief can convince you otherwise."

"And who's that?"

"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." A creature that had been hidden on the ceiling, suddenly growled. It sounded angry.

Apparently, the man could speak to the thing because he responded. "Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He clicked his fingers and pointed up. The alien was a huge slobbering lump, with its mouth full of sharp teeth.

Rose looked at the Doctor nervously. "What is that?"

"You mean, that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?"

"That 'thing' as you put it, is in charge of the human race." The man snapped back.

That was an alarming discovery. The human race wasn't supposed to be led by this. No wonder they were set back.

The man continued, somewhat calmer. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master, and humanities guiding light. The mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." The Jagrafess roared its agreement. "I call him Max." The Doctor gave him a sarcastic smile and nodded.

The drones grabbed him and Rose, and strapped them to tables by their ankles and hands. The man introduced himself as the Editor. "If we create a climate of fear…then it's easy to keep the borders closed, it's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy…invent an enemy…change a vote."

"So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves?" That was from Rose.

The Editor smirked. "Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"

"Yes." The Doctor replied without any hesitation.

The Editor mock-pouted. "Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"

"Yes." Was the simple reply.

The Editor laughed once more. "You're no fun."

The Doctor snarled. "Let me out of these manacles, you'll find out how much fun I am."

"Oh, he's tough, isn't he? But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit." He lifted his hands up in a gesture to show off the room.

"You can't hide something on this scale." Rose protested. "Somebody must've noticed."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain….I can see the smallest doubt, and crush it." He grinned.

The Editor wasn't paying enough attention to notice what the Doctor noticed. He heard the lift doors open behind them. The Editor kept talking. "And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual."

The Doctor spotted Cathica out of the corner of his eye, and he had to stop himself from grinning. Then he saw a flash of purple. Apparently, Jessa had decided to come as well. She waved and got his attention before she rubbed her arms in a gesture of cold with a questioning look on her face. He jerked his head up slightly, and she looked up towards the ceiling. He almost chuckled at her eyes going wide as she saw the thing on the ceiling. And then, a look of understanding came across her face, and she raced towards the lift. He had no idea where she was going.

The Editor noticed none of this. "When, of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."

"What about you?" Rose asked him. "You're not a Jagra….uh….a…"

"Jagrafess." The Doctor reminded her.

She nodded. "Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well."

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own."

"No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to," He paused, thinking of the right word. "install himself."

The Doctor snorted. "No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?" He was stalling for time. Time for either Cathica or Jessa to do something.

"3000 years."

"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs-Jagrafess stays cool. Stays alive. Satellite Five's one great big life support system."

The Editor nodded. "But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." He gave an eerie laugh, and then clicked his finger. The manacles sent an electric through both the Doctor and Rose. "Who are you?"

The Doctor grimaced. He tilted his head toward Rose. "Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler, and our friend is Jessa. We're nothing. We're just wandering."

The Editor didn't seem to believe them. "Tell me who you are!"

"I just said!"

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…" He stopped. The Doctor looked at him questioningly. The Editor smiled. "Time Lord."

The Doctor's blood ran cold. "What?"

"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. With his two human friends from long ago…" He touched Rose's face, and she jerked away from him.

The Doctor tried to deny it. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Time travel." The Editor replied with a look of wonder on his face.

"Someone's been telling you lies." The Doctor tried again.

"Young master Adam Mitchell." He clicked his fingers and a projection of Adam appeared on the screen. The idiot was writhing in pain, information was flowing through the new hole in his head.

Rose saw it too. "Oh my god, his head!"

The Doctor couldn't believe it. "What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything."

"And through him, I know everything about you." The Editor boasted. "Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S. TARDIS."

"You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first." The Doctor said.

"Die all you like, I've got the key."

On the screen, a TARDIS key floated out of Adam's pocket, dangling in the air. The Doctor turned to Rose. "You and your boyfriends." She was going to reply, but the door to the room Adam was in slid open. In stepped a very angry Jessa.

She took one look at the scene in front of him. "You Idiot! You absolute moron!" The Doctor couldn't help but grin at her. He watched as Jessa ran forward, and snatched the key from the air and ran out the door again. His grin widened.

The Editor was not happy. "What is she doing?!" Everybody in the room followed her movements through the camera. Jessa didn't stop running until she came to a room full of controls. She was searching for something.

"Where is it? Where is it? Aha! There you are." She came up to a panel and opened it. Inside, were a bunch of switches and wires. She looked over them carefully. "This one looks important." And she ripped out a blue wire that ran through the panel. The effect was immediate. The room was getting hotter. The icicles hanging from the ceiling were melting.

The Doctor laughed. "She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano."

Cathica, who had remained hidden, snuck up onto one of the computers, and released the manacles from both the Doctor and Rose. The Editor was trying to undo what Jessa had done, but to no avail.

The Doctor turned back. "Oi, mate, want to bank on a certainty. Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang! See you in the headlines." With that, he and Rose grabbed Cathica and the all piled into the lift, avoiding chunks of Jagrafess on the way. The all got into the lift just as the Jagrafess exploded, taking the Editor with it.

When the doors opened at floor 139, Jessa was standing by the lift, waiting for them. The Doctor ran forward and hugged her, forgetting that they were at odds. "That was absolutely brilliant! You're absolutely brilliant!" She smiled when he put her back down. He turned back to Cathica.

"We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage."

Cathica shook her head. "You'll have to stay and explain it. No-one's going to believe me."

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal."

Cathica looked behind him, towards Adam who was sitting by the TARDIS. "What about your friend?"

The Doctor said. "He's not my friend." At the same time he heard Jessa say. "I'm going to push him into a volcano." He was inclined to agree with her. The pair made their way over to a nervous looking Adam.

He barely heard Rose from behind him. "Now, don't…"

Adam walked over. "I'm all right now. Much better. She's got the key." He pointed at Jessa. "Well, it's…..I know…. It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" He laughed nervously. The Doctor grabbed Adam, and unlocked the TARDIS. Adam tried again. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge." The Doctor shoved Adam inside, ignoring him.

He started up the TARDIS in silence once everybody had gotten in. He steered it to Adam's house, and shoved the boy outside. Jessa and Rose followed him out.

"It's my house! I'm home! Oh my God I'm home!" Adam didn't notice the Doctors or Jessa's glare. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."

"Is there something else you want to tell me?" Giving the boy one more chance.

Adam gulped. "No. Um….what do you mean?"

Jessa walked over to his home phone, and smashed it on the ground. "One second of that message I saw you recording, and history would be changed forever."

The Doctor nodded. "That's it then, see ya." He started walking back to the TARDIS.

"How do you mean 'see you.'?"

"As in goodbye."

Adam faltered. "But….what about me? You can't just go, I've got my head, I've got a chip type 2, my head opens."

"What, like this?" The Doctor clicked his fingers and Adams head opened.

"Don't!" He clicked his fingers and his head closed again.

"Don't do what?" Another click.

"Stop it!" Click.

Rose stepped forward. "All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it." The Doctor reluctantly stepped back.

Adam let out a breath. "Thank you." And then Rose clicked her fingers.

"Oi!"

She sniggered. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." He closed it again.

The Doctor turned back. "The whole of history could've changed because of you."

"I just wanted to help."

"You were helping yourself."

"And, I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I really am. But you can't just leave me like this."

"Yes I can. Because if you show your head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. Good luck." He opened the TARDIS door.

"But I want to come with you!" Adam tried again.

"I only take the best." And he walked into the TARDIS with Rose and Jessa following him, and he started it up. But not before Jessa walked out the doors, clicked her fingers, and then came back in.

"Well that was fun, but I'm tired. Goodnight." And she went down the corridor without a glance behind her.


	8. Father's Day

**Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update last weekend, but first the power went out. When it came back on, my house had no internet. When the internet came back, I had to get ready for Thanksgiving. So, this is the first chance I've had to write. So, better late than never.**

 **Thanks for all the support on this story! Here is the Father's Day chapter. This one is a big one for Jessa, so I had fun writing it. I hope you enjoy it.**

 **I don't own Doctor Who. ):**

* * *

Rose, Jessa, and the Doctor all sat in the console room. They had dropped Adam off a while back and had been having adventures all throughout space. The Doctor was still a bit upset at Rose for giving Adam the TARDIS key, but had given it back to her with the warning not to do it again. Jessa and the Doctor were almost back to normal, and there was only a little awkwardness between the two when they were alone after an adventure in the TARDIS. The talks after adventures still didn't happen, and it made them both sad. They had both caught up on sleep after one particular adventure where Jessa had almost fallen off of a space deck after she had fallen asleep. The Doctor had caught her, but then on the same adventure, the Doctor had almost done the same thing but this time off of a speeding train. It was Jessa who caught him. So the next few days were spent lounging around and sleeping on the TARDIS. Other than that, except for less physical contact, everything was going fine.

Rose held a photograph of her father in her hand, looking in fondness. "Peter Alan Tyler, my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. My mum used to say 'he was always having adventures.'" She paused and looked at the Doctor. "So, I was thinking…..could we? Could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?"

The Doctor, Jessa noted, seemed suspicious. "Where's this come from, all of a sudden?"

Rose got a mischievous smirk, but lowered her head before the Doctor could see it. "All right then, if we can't, it goes against the laws of time or something, then never mind. We'll leave it." Jessa narrowed her eyes, Rose was playing the Doctor, and he was falling for it!

"No, I can do anything. I'm just more worried about you."

Rose looked at him. "I want to see him."

"Your wish is my command." His face grew solemn. "But be careful what you wish for." He stood up and started the engines of the TARDIS.

-9-

The TARDIS landed at a wedding. Jackie and Pete's wedding. The three time travelers stepped out and stood in the back of the registry office behind a small crowd of people.

The registrar spoke. "I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you Jaqueline Angela Suzette Prentiss.."

And then Pete tried to repeat. Key word; tried. "I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jaqueline Suzanne…..Suzette…..Anita…" Jackie narrowed her eyes at him, and Pete looked around for help.

Jackie sighed at him. "Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di." Jessa stifled a laugh. Beside her, the Doctor grinned. Rose had a contemplative look.

"I thought he'd be taller." She said. The registrar finished his part and the three left in the TARDIS again.

When they got inside, Rose told them how Pete died. "Mum told me that it was a hit and run driver, they never found out who. He was dead when the ambulance got there. She always used to say that she wished someone was there for him." She paused. Jessa felt her own eyebrows raise when she figured out where this was going. "I want to be that someone. So he doesn't die alone."

The Doctor merely looked at the console. "November the 7th?"

"1987." Rose confirmed.

He started up the engines again. When they stopped Rose stared at the door before slowly walking out. The day was average, quiet. Rose looked around. "That's so weird. The day my father died….I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy, it's just an ordinary day."

The Doctor nodded. "The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight."

Jessa looked over at Rose, concerned. She knew what it was like to watch family die. "Rose are you sure you want to do this? We can go back."

Rose looked at her a little sharper than she thought was necessary, but Jessa chalked it up to emotions running high. "I'm sure." That was the end of that discussion.

They walked to the curb of the pavement and waited. "This is it." Rose started. "Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase." Jessa could tell she was trying not to cry. She would've hugged the girl if she thought Rose would let her.

A car rounded the corner. "He got out of his car…." The car pulled over. "…..and crossed the road." The car stopped. "Oh, God. This is it."

The car held Pete Tyler. He reached over to the passenger's side and picked up the vase sitting there. He got out, not seeing the car that was speeding towards him. The driver of the car put his hand over his eyes. Rose turned her head into the Doctor's chest. Pete noticed the car and dropped the vase. Jessa flinched back when the car hit him. Rose looked up to see Pete lying in the road.

The Doctor looked down to Rose. "Go to him. Quick." But Rose didn't. She only stood there, watching.

The three leaned against the wall as they watched the ambulance show up. "It's too late now." Rose murmured. Both Jessa and the Doctor looked at her. "By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead." Her voice cracked, and she started to cry. "He can't die on his own." She looked at the Doctor. "Can I try again?"

The Doctor hesitated, but eventually nodded. As they walked back to the TARDIS, Jessa fell back, causing the Doctor to go back with her. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked him. "I don't think she can just watch him, if it were my father I'd try to stop it."

The Doctor grabbed her hand. "Rose promised." But even he looked uncertain.

Ten minutes later, they stood behind their past selves, watching the car pull up again.

The Doctor turned to Rose. "Right. That's the first you, me, and Jessa. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us. Wait until she runs off and they follow, then go to your dad." Jessa watched the whole thing with dread, she had a very bad feeling about this. The Doctor squeezed her hand in assurance.

Pete picked up the vase in the passenger seat for the second time. Rose shook her head. "I can't do this."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the last time we can be here."

Rose paused, and stared at her dad. Then she suddenly ran towards the car. "Rose! No!" Both Jessa and the Doctor yelled. Jessa reached to grab her, but barely skimmed her shirt. Rose ran towards Pete and tackled him to the ground, the car narrowly avoiding them both. The first set of their past selves looked shocked, and then vanished. Jessa and the Doctor looked at Rose in horror while Rose looked in amazement at her father.

"I did it! I saved your life!"

Pete was looking towards where the car went. "Blimey, did you see the speed of it?" He looked at Rose. "Did you get his number?"

Rose was still in shock. "I really did it! Oh, my God, look at you! You're alive! That car was going to kill you!"

Pete looked skeptical. "Well, give me some credit, I did see it coming. I wasn't going to walk under it, was I?"

"I'm Rose." She looked at him expectantly.

"That's a coincidence. That's my daughter's name."

Rose positively beamed at that. "That's a great name. Good choice, well done." Rose kept staring at him, smiling. It was obvious to Jessa that Pete was getting a bit uncomfortable.

"Right, I'd better shift. I've got a wedding to go to."

"Is it Sarah Clarke's wedding?"

"Yeah, are you going?"

"…Yeah." Rose lied. Jessa hoped that Sarah Clarke was not very picky about who attended her wedding.

"And do you and your friends need a ride?" Pete asked, gesturing to a very angry looking Doctor and Jessa, who was giving Rose a disapproving look. Rose nodded and they all piled into the car towards the Tyler flat.

When they got to the flat, Jessa followed the other three into the living room, shutting the front door behind her. Pete put the vase on the table. "There we go. Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchen's just down there." He pointed down the hall. "Milk's in the fridge….well it would be wouldn't it? Where else would you put the milk?" He was rambling now. "Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt…..make a lot of money out of that." Rose was still staring at Pete with awe in her eyes. Pete continued, oblivious. "Sell it to students and things… I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me….." He pushed past them and disappeared through a door. Rose took the opportunity to look around.

"All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard, she used to show me when she'd had a bit to drink." The Doctor was leaning against the doorframe, but he didn't say anything. Jessa just stood by the door, watching them both. She knew this was going to be a disaster. Rose looked through the things on the table, straightening them out. "Here it is. On display. Where it should be." She spotted a trophy and held it up. "Third prize at the bowling….first two got to go to Didcot."

She looked at it for a few seconds, before setting it down. Her attention was focused on some bottles sitting in the corner. "Health drinks. Tonics, mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He's so clever." Either Rose had not noticed the glare on her back and the silence, or she just didn't care. She walked over to some plans sitting open. "Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can." She smiled at the Doctor, but he didn't smile back.

Rose sighed. "Look I'll tell him you're not my boyfriend." Pete had called the Doctor Rose's boyfriend on the ride over.

The Doctor finally spoke, although the voice sounded suspicious. "When we met, I said 'travel with me in space'. You said no. Then I said 'time machine'." Jessa grimaced. This was going to get ugly if the very similar argument she and the Doctor had was anything to go by.

"It wasn't some big plan." Rose protested. "I just saw it happening and I thought…I can stop it."

The Doctor glared, obviously not believing her. "I did again. I picked another stupid ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe-it never is. It's about the universe doing something for you."

That made Rose angry. "So its okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my dad."

"I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point."

"But he's alive!"

"My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?" He had won that argument and everybody knew it, but Rose didn't give up.

"But it's not like I've changed history. Not much, I mean…..he's never going to be a world leader, he's not going to start World War Three or anything…"

Jessa interrupted, hoping to calm everybody down. "Rose, that's not the point. Ordinary people are just as important as extraordinary ones. And now a man who should be dead is not."

Rose snapped at her. "Of course you'd take his side, what else is new? He's the only friend you've got. Don't think I didn't notice you had no friends in our time, you lived right below us and I never saw you with anyone, and I can't say I'm surprised." Jessa glared at her, she had tried being nice but that was too far.

The Doctor apparently had similar thoughts. "Rose, that's enough." He said.

"No, I get it! For once, you're not the most important man in my life."

The Doctor was fuming at that point. "Let's see how you get on without me, then, give me the key." He held out his hand for the object in question. Rose only stared. "The TARDIS key. If I'm so insignificant, give it back."

Rose started to dig around in her pocket. "Alright then, I will." She pulled it out and slapped it into his hand.

"Well, you've got what you wanted so that's goodbye then." He grabbed Jessa's hand and they headed towards the front door.

Rose followed them. "You don't scare me." She didn't seem too sure of herself. She moved in the way of the door nevertheless. "I know how sad you are. You'll be back in a minute. Or you'll hang around the TARDIS, waiting for me."

The Doctor stared, coldly. "I've got Jessa." And then he pushed past her and out the door, still holding on to Jessa like a lifeline.

When they reached the sidewalk, Rose called out again. "And I'll make you wait a long time!" Before she slammed the door.

-9-

The Doctor was mad. No, he was well past mad, he was furious. Rose had gone too far. She had promised not to try and save Pete, and that's exactly what she did. He would like to think she hadn't decided to travel with him to save her dad, but what was he supposed to think. And then she had the nerve to blame him! Not to mention what she had said to Jessa.

Speaking of Jessa, she had been quiet since they left. But then he heard a sniffle. He looked over to see Jessa rub her eyes furiously on the end of her sweater. "Are you okay?"

Another sniffle. "Fine." Her voice was thick. It was very obvious she was not fine. The Doctor stopped.

"Come here." He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like that for a while, and eventually Jessa's sniffles stopped. She pulled back.

"Sorry about that." He just shrugged and they kept walking down the sidewalk as if nothing ever happened.

The rest of the walk was spent in comfortable silence. The Doctor had cooled down a little during the walk, Jessa just being there seemed to do that. When they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor pulled out his key, but paused. He could swear that something was watching them. He looked through the trees and saw nothing. Narrowing his eyes a little in suspicion, he turned back to his ship and unlocked the door. There was nothing. It was empty, just an ordinary police-box. There was a gasp beside him.

The Doctor stepped into the box and felt around frantically, looking for something, anything that would give hint to the ship he knew was inside. And then he paused, and his eyes widened, he knew what this was. And it was nothing good. He stepped out of the box and grabbed onto Jessa's hand before he took off running. "We've got to go, I'll explain on the way!"

They ran, and ran, and ran. The Doctor explained what was going on to Jessa in between breaths. "There's this thing, alien really. Very bird-like. Name's not important." Pause. "When there's a fragile place in time, and someone manages to mess it up royally, like we just did, they come." Pause. "It's like cleaning out a wound, and right now they're going to go after anything they can until the wound heals."

He saw Jessa nod. "Right, got it. So we, being the ones that messed up, need to fix it, hopefully before these bird creatures eat somebody."

The Doctor nodded. "Glad we're on the same page."

They passed a car that looked very familiar. "Isn't that the same car that should've hit Pete?"

The Doctor grimaced. "Yeah."

"So that means to fix this, Pete would have to…." She trailed off.

Another nod. "But hopefully, we can fix this whole mess without needing to do that."

They came up to the church, and saw Rose outside with her parents and the rest of the wedding guests.

"Rose!" The Doctor called out.

He saw Rose turn, with a satisfied smirk on her face. "Get in the church!" Jessa called.

Rose's smirk fell, and she looked at what had caught the Doctor's attention. They were here. One of the creatures dove towards Rose, and the Doctor tackled her to the ground. They both scrambled up.

"Get in the church!" The Doctor repeated Jessa's words. Everybody immediately ran towards the doors, but they were soon blocked by yet another creature, reapers they were called.

"Oh my God, what are they?" Someone in the crowd called out. Some of the people who were already in the church tried to come out.

"Inside!" The Doctor called again, hoping they would listen. "Stay in there!" The reapers were still swooping down on the people. Once everybody was inside, the Doctor immediately shut the doors, just in time to block out the reapers. He immediately turned around and tried to find Jessa. He hadn't seen her come through the doors in all the pandemonium. He let out a relieved breath when he saw she was talking to some guests.

In the church, everybody was talking over each other, and the feeling of panic was present. The Doctor looked out the windows to see the shadows of the reapers fly by. "They can't get in. Old windows and doors, okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?" He wasn't really talking to anybody, just thinking out loud. Outside, the reapers screeched again. "Go and check the other doors! Move!" That time he was talking to somebody, and the people surrounding him found themselves listening.

The Doctor ran to a big wooden door and pushed up against it. And then, as if his day couldn't get any worse, Jackie ran up to him. "What's happening?" She latched onto his arm. "What are they?"

"There's been an accident in time, a wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage." He didn't really expect her to understand what he said.

He was right, she didn't. "What do you mean, time? What are you on about, time?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, a familiar gesture when he was near Jackie. "Oh I'd might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining…"

"How d'you know my name?" Well of course that's what she would take in from that conversation.

The Doctor ignored her. "I haven't got time for this…"

"I've never met you in my life!" Jackie was very persistent about that.

"No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this, Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors." By the end of that sentence he was almost yelling, his voice strong and commanding.

Jackie was stunned into silence for a minute before saying, "Yes sir."

The Doctor grinned, and turned to Jessa, who had walked over after his little rant. "I should've done that ages ago."

"Yes, you really should've." Jessa agreed.

Just then, another man, the groom, walked over. "My dad was out there."

"You can mourn him later, right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive." The Doctor told him, his voice wasn't unkind but instead firm.

The man nodded. "My dad had…."

"There's nothing we can do for him."

"No. But he had this phone thing, I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice…"

The Doctor took his phone and put it against his ear. Jessa leaned in to hear as well. "Watson, some here, we need you. Watson, come here, we need you." Jessa looked at him.

"That's the first phone call."

"Alexander Graham Bell." The Doctor agreed. He handed the phone back. "I don't think that telephone's going to be of much use."

He grabbed Jessa's hand and pulled her with him to another door. The man called after them. "But someone must call the police."

The Doctor turned around, grim. "Police can't help you now, no one can." And then he turned back to the nearby door. He called back over his shoulder. "Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound." He looked pointedly at Rose. "By consuming everything in sight."

Rose got the hint. "Is this because….." The Doctor looked at her. He had calmed down, and he wasn't really angry anymore. She had the chance to save her family and she took it, she was only human.

Rose tried again. "Is this my fault?" The Doctor wanted to tell her no, to make the sad look on her face go away. He didn't like seeing her look so devastated. But, he couldn't because it was Rose's fault. She messed with time and this was the consequence. He said nothing and just walked to check another door. When he got there, Jessa looked up.

"I know what you're trying to do. Stall for time, think of another way. A way that isn't the obvious one we both know would solve the situation. And that's fine, great really. But Doctor," She looked at him seriously. "if there isn't another way, remember not everybody can be saved, and that's okay. If we have to take the only option available, we'd have saved the planet at one man's life. And that's a terrible cost but it would be necessary. So, if there truly isn't anything else we can do, we have to do what neither of us wants. And I'll be there with you." And then Jessa turned around, and continued to check the door, knowing the Doctor's silence expressed his gratitude more than words ever would.

Because Jessa understood. Understood that he didn't want to do this but there was no other choice. If he didn't save the Earth, then who would? There wasn't a choice. And she understood, unlike any other companion he had, she got it.

The silence was broken by Pete walking over. "There's smoke coming up from the city but no sirens. I don't think it's just us, I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world." The Doctor didn't answer, just kept working. He couldn't talk to Pete knowing he might have to sentence the man to death.

"Was that a car?" That from Pete made the Doctor look up. Indeed it was. It was the car that was supposed to hit Pete. It turned the corner and disappeared. The Doctor turned around without saying anything. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Jessa. She gave him a meaningful look, and he nodded.

After another three doors checked, the Doctor heard Rose cry. He looked over to see her hugging Pete. She must've told him. And that made it hurt all the more. Rose finally got her dad, and he'd probably have to take him away again. Could he do that to her? But he knew the answer. No he couldn't, but he'd have to anyways.

Another door, another problem. The bride and the groom walked up. "Excuse me! You two seem to know what's going on." The groom called out to him and Jessa.

The man kept talking when he didn't receive an answer. "I just wanted to ask….." The bride, Sarah, cut him off.

"Can you save us?" The Doctor was going to say something, but a grip on his hand stopped him. He looked over to see Jessa look at him asking to take that one, and then turn to the couple. That was fine with him, he wasn't good at the emotional stuff.

"What are your names?" She asked them.

"Stuart Hoskins."

"Sarah Clarke."

Jessa smiled warmly. "Wonderful names, and what about the little one." She pointed at Sarah's stomach, which had a little bump. The Doctor was surprised she picked up on that.

So was Sarah. "How'd you know?" She looked down at her stomach, as if to see if she was showing that much.

Jessa chuckled. "No, you're not fat." Sarah looked embarrassed. "You're glowing. I've been around many pregnant people, and you start to pick up on things. That's how I know."

They both nodded. Sarah held her stomach. "I don't know what gender it is, don't want to know really."

Jessa nodded again. "A surprise. I like that, what's life without a little surprise. So, how'd you two meet?"

The couple glanced at each other before Stuart started talking. "Outside the Big Box Club. Two in the morning."

Sarah took over. "Street Corner. I'd lost my purse, didn't have money for a taxi."

"I took her home. Asked for a date."

"And he wrote his number on the back of my hand."

Stuart grinned. "Never got rid of her since. My dad said….." His smile fell. Sarah looked ready to cry.

"I don't know what this is all about. And I know we're not important…."

Jessa interrupted her. "Not important? Why wouldn't you be important? I speak from experience. I've travelled all around the world, seen and done things many would dream of. But I've never had a story like yours. No street corner at two in the morning, no getting a taxi home. And I'd give all my adventures for a story like that. It's the ordinary, seemingly small stories in life that truly are the best ones. So not important? Never. And to answer your question, yes. We will be trying and saving you. Stories like yours need to be told, and we're going to give you that chance." Sarah smiled at them with tears in her eyes.

The couple walked away. The Doctor turned to Jessa, "That was nice of you."

She shrugged. "It was the truth."

"Can you really tell if people are pregnant just by looking at them?"

"Like I said, I've seen a lot of pregnant people, there's just something different about them."

"But you've never been?" He didn't know why he asked the question, but he thought it was important for some reason.

"No." She paused. "I can't be."

The Doctor was stunned. "What?"

"It's not that I don't want kids. It's that I can't. A while back…something happened, and now I can't have children."

The Doctor looked at her guiltily. "I'm sorry. For asking."

She shrugged. "It's not your fault, you didn't know." She walked away, towards a window. The Doctor followed behind her. Eventually, they end up by a baby Rose, where Jackie promptly left her in their care. The Doctor reached down and picked her up.

"Now, Rose….you're not gonna bring about the end of the word are you?" He looked at the baby intensely. "Are you?" Jessa smacked him on the arm, now in a much better mood. The 19 year old Rose joined them. The Doctor glanced up at her. "Jackie gave her to us to look after, how times change."

Rose attempted a light hearted conversation. "I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." She reached out towards her past self. The Doctor quickly smacked her hand away.

"No. Don't touch the baby. You're both the same person and that's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening. Not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in."

Rose put her hand down, dejected. "Can't do anything right, can I?"

"Since you ask, no. So, don't…..touch….the…..baby." He spoke slowly.

Rose narrowed her eyes. "I'm not stupid."

"Could've fooled me." Okay, so maybe he was still a little angry, but even he knew that was a little harsh. "Alright, I'm sorry." She looked back at him. "I wasn't really going to leave you on your own." He admitted.

"I know."

"But between you and me, I haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out." He couldn't tell her the only way out he knew was to kill her dad.

"You'll think of something." Rose told him quietly.

"The entire Earth is being sterilized. This, and the other places like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening, my people would've stopped this." He felt Jessa squeeze his arm. "But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way."

"If I'd realized…"

He looked at Rose. "Just tell me you're sorry."

She replied without any hesitation. "I am. I'm sorry."

The Doctor looked at her, and grinned. He pulled her in for a hug, and she returned it. But after a few seconds she pulled away and started to feel his jacket pocket. "Have you got something hot?" She reached into the pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key, but she dropped it when it started to burn.

"It's the TARDIS key!" The Doctor called brightly. He took off his jacket and used it to pick up the key. "It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!" He gathered everyone in the church over. "The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this key to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?" He looked around.

Stuart jumped up, holding up his dad's phone. "This one big enough?"

The Doctor ran over. "Fantastic!"

"Good old dad." Stuart handed the phone over. "There you go."

"Just need to do a bit of charging." He pressed his sonic to the battery. "And then we can bring everyone back."

After a while the TARDIS started to materialize. The Doctor grinned. "Right, no-one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it! Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah, you're going to get married, just like Jessa said." He moved towards the back of the church where Rose and Jessa were. When he sat down, Rose looked at him.

"When time gets sorted out…."

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed."

None of them noticed Pete walk up behind them. "You mean I'll still be alive." They turned to face him. "Though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I didn't mean anything."

"It doesn't work like that." The Doctor protested.

Pete scoffed. "Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened."

Jessa spoke up. "It's not your fault, Pete. It's nobody's fault." The Doctor saw Jackie coming over and left, not wanting to deal with the woman. Jessa followed his example.

Everything was fine until Pete said. "Oh for God's sake it's the same Rose!" He picked up baby Rose and put her into Rose's arms.

"Rose! No!" The Doctor cried, but it was too late. He went to take the baby from Rose, but a reaper appeared in the church. "Everyone! Behind me!" He called out to the others. "I'm the oldest thing here."

He waited for the reaper to take him but something else happened. Behind him he heard Jessa talk. "Sorry Doctor, but you've got a world to save." And then he felt a tug on his jacket before he was yanked backwards. He stumbled and looked up in time to see the reapers swoop down at Jessa.

"Jessa no!" He yelled. He realized a few things in those few moments. 1. Jessa was older than he was, or at least as old. The reapers could've changed direction in time to miss Jessa, but they didn't and they always go after the oldest thing. 2. Jessa was going to die, and he couldn't do a thing about it. 3. Most importantly, the Doctor realized that he was in love with her. Deeply, incredibly, fantastically, and hopelessly in love.

And then she was gone. And the Doctor's world shattered. He wouldn't see her anymore, not her smile, wouldn't hear her laugh. Never again. He would never get to apologize like he meant to all those weeks ago. And he only realized he was in love until it was too late. He sank to his knees, not paying attention to anything around him. He didn't know how long he sat like that, but he was brought into the real word by Rose shaking him. "Doctor? Doctor!?"

He looked at her, and she flinched. And he found himself thinking it was her fault, she messed up time. It was her fault Jessa was dead. He clenched his jaw to keep his mouth shut, if he started yelling, he wouldn't be able to stop. Rose tried again. "Doctor, is there anything we can do? What about the TARDIS?"

"There's not enough time anymore, the reapers are going to get in soon now." He ground out. "Nothing I can do." And he wasn't really sure there was anything he wanted to do either. He just walked over to a bench and sat down.

Everybody was panicking about dying, everyone except for the Doctor and Pete. The former sat on the bench, wallowing. The latter walked up to Rose, calmly. "There's a way out of this, you know. The Doctor knows too, but he wouldn't do that to you."

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked him.

"That car should've killed me, love."

Rose understood instantly. "But you can't…." Tears sprang in her eyes.

"I'm meant to be dead." He looked at the Doctor. "If I do this, will everything be alright again?"

The Doctor looked up, and he nodded solemnly. He wasn't sure if it could bring back Jessa but he hoped on everything it would.

Pete looked at his daughter. "Are you going to be there for me, love?" Rose nodded. "Thanks for saving me." He pulled a sobbing Rose into a hug before grabbing the vase he had earlier off the table, and walked out the church doors, ignoring the reapers. He stood out in the middle of the road, in the path of the oncoming car. He took a last look at Rose. "Goodbye, love…." And then the car hit, and the vase fell. The Doctor walked up behind Rose. "Go to him. Quick." She nodded and ran off towards Pete.

The Doctor looked around, all around him people were outside, watching. Stuart's dad was back, but where was….

"Hello Doctor." He spun around so fast, and there she was, smiling. Jessa, the person he knew he was in love with.

"Jessa." He breathed, and then he ran at her, and scooped her up into a hug. "You're alive!" He paused for a moment, there was something he should've said a while ago. "I'm sorry."

Jessa pulled back a little, confused. "For what?"

"For everything. For getting you k..illed" He stuttered over that word. "But most importantly for accusing you of using me. I almost lost you today, and I can't do that again, especially with you being mad at me and without you knowing that I'm sorry, I never meant what I said."

Jessa chuckled and hugged him again. "I was never mad. That's all I wanted to hear. An apology." Jessa released him from the hug, but kept a hold on his hand. They walked over to Rose, who let go of her father's hand and joined them.

"I'm sorry." She said. They both nodded in acceptance and the three of them walked into the newly returned TARDIS.

Later that night, the Doctor and Jessa were sitting in the console room just like they used to. The Doctor hated to ruin it, but there was something he needed to know. And this time he would do it without throwing accusations. "The reapers took you instead of me. There's only one way that that would happen. How old are you?"

"Don't you know to never ask a woman her age?" Jessa chuckled at her own joke, but quickly turned serious. "I don't know the exact number but I'd guess somewhere around 950." She turned to him. "But I was going to tell you, you have to believe that."

The Doctor was stunned. She was as old as he was. "How?"

"Remember that accident I told you about earlier? Same one did this." It was obvious she didn't want to talk about it. He could guess as to why. If something did this, he really doubted it was anything pleasant.

"Why didn't you tell me?" That part bothered him, did she not trust him? The thought hurt.

"I was going to, honest. But you need to know that as far as I can tell, I'm never going to die. I have to be alone all my life, that's my curse. And then I met you and you said you were 900 years old. And I felt hope. Hope that maybe I wouldn't have to be so alone. But then I thought 'what if you only live to be 1000' or something to that affect. And I couldn't get my hopes up without knowing, so I tried to find out. But I couldn't. There was nothing, no information. I was going to tell you. Please don't be mad at me." He looked over at her.

"I'm not mad. We've already done mad and it didn't work out for anybody involved. However, you could've just asked. I already told you about regeneration. Well, I've got 12 regenerations. Once I get to 12 and then die, I'm out. No more. This is number 9."

Jessa started to cry. "See, once you're done with 12 then I lose you too. I can stay with you for longer than I could anyone else, but I'll still lose you, and I can't do that. I can't lose you."

Hearing her say that, made him incredibly happy, even if it was a somber conversation. He pulled her into another hug. "It's alright. As long as I don't use all 12, it'll be fine. I'll be careful."

Jessa sniffled. "You better be." The Doctor chuckled.

There was a pause. The Doctor was deep in thought. He'd never expected this, but he found it easy to accept and be okay with. Someone that would live longer than him. And it happened to be someone he loved, even if she didn't love him back. He wanted to tell her, but he knew he would ruin it, so he'd keep quiet. And then maybe one day something could change. After all, they had forever to figure it out.

Jessa spoke up first. "Enough of that emotional stuff. For two people who declared themselves bad with emotions, we sure do talk about them a lot." She paused and then turned to him. "How about we go make tea like proper British citizens, then you could tell me all about the best year to go to New York."

The Doctor grinned and stood up. "I'd be honored." He held out his arm and she took it. They walked towards the kitchen chattering happily, the air between the two cleared. And everything was as it should be.


	9. The Empty Child

**Hey Guys! So, I'm totally behind on updating and I apologize. But, I write these stories for fun and when writing starts to seem more like a chore than a hobby I take a break. I really needed to decide where I want to go with this story. But I should be back for now. Thank you so much for the support, and sorry for the delay.**

 **I don't own Doctor Who, sadly.**

 **Jack is in this episode! I really like him as a character, he might be a bit OOC in this but this is how I like to write him soooooo. Enjoy!**

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The lights around the TARDIS were going off in a warning and the console room itself was shaking. Both people in the room had to hang on for dear life. Rose had decided not to join them on this adventure as both Jessa and the Doctor were still cross with her. Not that either had told her out loud but she could take a hint, and the awkward silences were rather large hints.

"What are we chasing?" Jessa asked over the sirens.

The Doctor gestured to the screen in the middle of the console. On the screen, an object was hurdling through the time vortex. "It's got a very basic flight computer-I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

Jessa nodded. "Now is this going to work, or will it kill us?" She grinned at him.

He mock-glared. "This is fool-proof and totally safe." Just as he said that a piece of the console exploded, sending sparks flying. "Okay, reasonably. I should have said reasonably there." He corrected. Jessa sent another grin at him, and he happily returned it. He still hadn't told her of his newly discovered feelings, and he wasn't sure he would. He liked things how they were now.

Suddenly, one of the monitors started to go off. The Doctor ran to it. "Oh, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."

"You never actually answered my question. What is this thing we're chasing?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

Jessa rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She muttered. "So why are we chasing it?"

"It's dangerous and about 30 seconds from the center of London." He quickly pulled a few more levers on the unbroken side of the console. With a final button pushed the TARDIS landed. Both people stepped out and looked around. The area was rather bleak, and they were surrounded by some worn down houses.

"The thing must've come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago, maybe a month."

"I'm willing to bet it was closer to a month, since you were the one driving." Jessa teased.

The Doctor faked hurt. "I'll have you know, my driving is the only reason we didn't lose the thing completely."

"As if."

The Doctor hmphed, but nevertheless continued to look around.

"So how are we planning on finding this thing?" Jessa asked him.

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper. "Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids."

Jessa grinned. "Then let's get going." The Doctor grinned back and headed for a door, and after cracking the lock he pulled it open. He turned back to Jessa, who hadn't moved.

"Coming?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "No, you go. I want to see something first."

The Doctor reluctantly nodded, and walked through the door, shutting it behind him. Jessa looked up to what had caught her attention once the Doctor was gone. It was a child standing on the roof. He looked to be about 4 years old and was wearing a gas mask. The child was staring at her. "Muuumy?" It called.

"Hello there." Jessa smiled to the boy even though something about him really creeped her out.

The child showed no sign of hearing her, only called out for his mummy once more. Jessa steeled her nerves and looked at him. "Are you okay up there?" She got no reply, so she looked around to find a way to the roof.

-9-

The Doctor discovered that the door had led to a rather dark corridor. He wasn't too sure why Jessa had stayed behind, but no matter. At the end of the corridor there was an open room. It was a big contrast from the outside world. It was full of light and chatter. Everybody was having a good time, and in the background there was even a singer. The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and headed towards the stage. When the singer had finished her song, he stepped up to the mic.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh…..hello!" He waved at everybody now that he had their attention. "Eh…..might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?"

His question was met with silence. And then…..laughter. Everybody except for him was laughing. He looked around confusedly, utterly baffled.

"Sorry, have I said something funny?" That only seemed to make them laugh more. So, he decided to keep going. "It's just, there's this thing I need to find, would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."

Then, a siren went off in the room. Everybody started to evacuate, as though this was no new occurrence. "Would've landed quite near here." The Doctor tried once more. He looked up towards the siren. "With a very loud…" He was talking to himself more than anybody now. The people running out of the building sure weren't listening. And then he spotted something that gave him a very good idea as to where they were. It was a poster with the words 'Hitler will send no warning' on it.

"Bang…" He concluded his earlier statement, still staring at the poster. He closed his eyes. Ending up in WWII certainly made things more interesting.

-9-

Jessa could think of at least 5 million things she'd rather be doing than what she currently was doing. But here she was trying to find a way to the roof of a building that a rather creepy child, whose vocabulary seemed to be limited to the word 'mummy', was sitting on the edge of. Of course, there was a rope that led right to the roof, and seeing no better option, Jessa decided to climb it. Once she was half way up the rope, Jessa decided to question the convenience of a randomly placed rope on the side of the building she needed to climb. So, to answer this new problem, she looked up. And was in no way reassured like she'd hoped. For the rope was connected to a barrage balloon that was taking off. And as Jessa rose higher and higher into the air, she started to get a really good idea about where the TARDIS had landed. The German planes confirmed the theory. "Well, this is interesting to say the least."

She looked down to see she was now 50 feet above the ground. So, pulling down her jacket sleeves to get a grip on the rope, she called out one more thing. "Doctor, if this kills me, I am so coming back to haunt you!" And then the balloon drifted away.

-9-

The Doctor ran back out into the alley, expecting to find Jessa. But she wasn't there. "Jessa!" He called out. This really wasn't a huge concern, it wasn't like that would be the first time a companion ran off. Far from it, in fact. But Jessa was different, she usually was not one to run off on her own, and that was cause for some concern. But, Jessa had been acting a little off since they'd landed. Besides, she could take care of herself. He'd give it an hour before he'd start panicking.

And then the TARDIS phone started to ring. Which really should not be possible, but there it was, ringing. The Doctor walked out behind the time travelling machine and opened the panel where the phone was. "How can you be ringing?" He asked the inanimate object. "What's that about, ringing?" He pulled out his sonic and started to scan it. "What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

During his musing, a girl had walked up behind him, unnoticed. "Don't answer it. It's not for you." She said this with absolute certainty. The Doctor turned, a bit startled.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it." She seemed a bit scared, of what he had no idea.

He decided to question the girl, who looked to be about 20. "Well, if you know so much, tell me this, how can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not….." He turned back towards the girl, only to find her gone. Confused, he turned back to the still ringing phone. Ever the curious one, he answered it. "Hello?" He called, but there was no answer. "This is the Doctor speaking." More silence. "How may I help you?"

That one got a response. "Mummy?" The voice was a child, of that there was no question. "Mummy?" It called again.

"Who is this, who's speaking?"

The child apparently did not hear him. "Are you my mummy?"

"Who is this?" The Doctor demanded.

"Mummy?"

Now he was getting frustrated. "How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired to anything, it's…"

He was interrupted by the same question. "Mummy?" And before he could answer, the line went dead. The Doctor slowly removed the phone from his ear and hung up. He sat there for a minute before walking back to the front of the TARDIS and poking his head inside.

"Jessa?" He got no reply. "Rose, we're probably going to be a while. Don't wait up, just leave the light on!" He yelled cheekily before running down an alley where there was a crash seconds previous. He ran, hoping to find Jessa, but no such luck. Instead, he found a rather large woman rushing her family around. Which looked rather ridiculous and somewhat amusing in the Doctor's not so humble opinion. Not that he could blame them for rushing around, the sirens were still going off and he figured that they didn't particularly want to be bombed. As soon as they were in the shelter, the girl that warned him about the phone call not ten minutes earlier, snuck inside the house. He followed her, making sure not to be seen. From the shadows he watched as she ran around the kitchen opening the cupboards and pulling out food. Interesting.

-9-

Jack Harkness liked to consider himself a decent man, well most of the time. And so when he spotted a beautiful girl hanging off a barrage balloon during an air raid, he couldn't just leave her there. Of course it didn't hurt that she had nice…assets. So, he put his binoculars down, and headed towards the door, paying no mind to the orders to not do exactly what he planned on doing. After all, he had a damsel to save.

-9-

The girl, the Doctor learned, was named Nancy. He learned this from one of at least six children that were currently in the house that belonged to none of the people in it. The Doctor learned fairly quickly that Nancy took care of these children, who were from the streets by the looks of it. She made pleasant conversation with them, while the Doctor was still staying silent. She was carving the meat left behind by the owners of the house.

"I bet it's off the black market." That was from one of the boys closest to the table. The Doctor had to hold back a snort.

"That's enough." Nancy reprimanded, but she was smiling.

The boy was not to be deterred, however. "But it's got to be black market. He couldn't get this on coupons."

"Ernie, how many times? We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Go wash up." The Doctor found it kind of ironic that she was talking of manners when she was in a house that wasn't hers, eating food that wasn't hers.

Nancy looked around and pointed at one particular boy. "Haven't seen you at one of these before."

The boy nodded. "Ernie told me about it."

"Sleeping rough?" She questioned.

"Yes, miss." That confirmed what the Doctor already expected.

Nancy nodded. "All right then." She picked up the plate of the meat she carved and passed it around. "One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly." The Doctor quickly slipped into an empty seat and waited for the plate to be passed to him. When it was his turn, he thanked her as the other boys had, and everybody stopped.

Nancy spoke calmly. "It's alright. Everybody stay where you are." He found the reaction of one boy with a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth especially amusing.

The Doctor just kept talking as though none of that happened. "Good here, isn't it? Who's got the salt?"

Nancy turned to the boys who were half way out the door. "Back in your seats. He shouldn't be here either." All the boys stared wearily at him, but did as instructed. The Doctor smiled happily, and then helped himself to some sauce.

"So," he began, "you lot, what's your story?"

Ernie looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" He was never accused of having tact.

One of the boys glanced over at him suspiciously. "Why d' you wanna know? Are you a copper?"

"Of course I'm not a copper!" The Doctor exclaimed. "What's a copper going to do with you lot anyways, arrest you for starving?" The children all laughed at his joke and settled down at the table. The Doctor, pleased with himself, continued.

"I make its 1941, you lot shouldn't be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated," one boy admitted. "They sent me to a farm."

"So why'd you come back?" Feeling like he already knew the answer, and it made him angry. Children were meant to be treated well, that was something he lived by and would continue to live by for the rest of his life.

"There was a man there…" The boy trailed off.

Another boy sensed his reluctance to continue and did it for him. "Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago."

Ernie bristled at that. "Shut up. It's better on the streets anyways. Better food."

"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us."

The Doctor smiled at Nancy. "So, that's what you do is it, Nancy?"

The girl looked a little confused. "What is?"

"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London. As long as the bombs don't get you."

Nancy looked at him as though she dared him to disagree with her. "Something wrong with that?"

Good thing the Doctor had no plans of disagreeing. "Wrong with it? It's brilliant! I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." He paused before asking. "This may seem random, but I'm looking for someone, a girl to be more specific."

Ernie interrupted before he could continue. "Is she a pretty girl?" The others listened closely.

The Doctor had to force a blush back down. "Yes, she's a very pretty girl." He tried to say that as indifferently and sarcastically as possible. "She's got purple hair, you really couldn't miss her. So have any of you seen her when you were scrambling over here like mad?" He got a bunch of shaking heads as a response, and he sighed. "Of course you didn't, that'd be too easy, and TARDIS forbid anything be easy. Well no harm in asking, I suppose. Now," He suddenly turned serious and looked at Nancy. "I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you."

"Great thanks." The Doctor said with an eye roll. "Well let's see if any of you could be the least bit helpful this time, one out of three wouldn't be bad. I'm looking for something, would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind anyway, wouldn't have exploded. Would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would've looked something like this…." He held up a picture of a roughly sketched bomb he had drawn while talking. He noticed Nancy looking at it with familiarity, so she obviously knew what it was. Before he had time to ask her about it, there was a knock on the window.

"Mummy?" A voice called. "Are you in there, mummy?" The Doctor stood up and pulled back the window curtain. A small child wearing a gas mask stood there, knocking.

Nancy looked at all of them urgently, "Who was the last one in?"

Ernie pointed at the Doctor, but Nancy shook her head. "Nah, he came round back, who came in front?"

A boy, who he vaguely remembered being called Alf raised his hand. "Me."

"Did you close the door?"

"I…"

"Did you close the door?" Nancy repeated, only louder.

"Mummy? Mummy?" The child called again. Nancy wasted no time in running to the front door and bolting it down. The Doctor stood behind her, confusedly.

"What's this then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

"I suppose you'd know." Nancy told him, but her eyes never leaving the door.

"I do actually, yes." He smiled at her, for all the world looking pleasant.

"It's not exactly a child." Nancy explained. But before he could ask, the not-child called out once more and Nancy wasted no time in pushing them both back towards the dining room.

-9-

Jessa could say with certainty that she'd never had to hang on to a barrage balloon in wartime during an air raid before. She could also say that it was an unpleasant experience and one she never wanted to repeat. Sure once you got past the bombs and immediate danger, the view was lovely. And so she hung on to the rope with a grip she was sure she never had before this little escapade. And with absolutely no plans on how to get down. Well, she had no plans until a blue beam surrounded her.

"Okay, okay, I've got you." This came from a seemingly invisible voice. She could tell it was male, but it gave no clues as to where he was.

"That's great and all, I really didn't want to die today, but who are you?"

The voice chuckled. "No matter, just keep your hands inside the beam at all times. And do me a favor, turn off your cell phone."

Jessa scoffed. "You and I both know that cell phones don't interfere with anything."

"No really, they really do interfere."

"Well maybe they do, so it's a good thing I don't have one."

There was an awkward pause, until the voice chuckled again. "Well damn, okay be with you in a moment." Then Jessa felt herself getting shot up the beam and she closed her eyes. Not that she'd admit it was because she was scared. Then she felt arms wrapped around her.

"I've got you." The voice said soothingly. Jessa opened her eyes to find a man looking down at her, he was handsome, no doubt about that. He looked to be in his twenties, brown hair, very well built from what she could see.

"Hello." Jessa said, after she stood up and stepped away from him. "Now then, I think I've been promised a name if I'm not mistaken."

He held out his hand, "Jack Harkness, nice to meet you." She took it.

"Well Jack I feel the same way, however I'm curious to know why we're standing on a ship that by all means does not belong in the 1940's." Jack gave another laugh, but the smile didn't reach his eyes this time. 'Gotcha' Jessa said to herself. The child could wait until later, this was by far more interesting, and Jack didn't give her the creeps.

-9-

Once Nancy had all but dragged the Doctor into the dining room, she turned to the slightly terrified children. "Right, everybody out, across the back garden and under the fence." When nobody moved, she resorted to yelling. "Now! Go! Move!" That got the reaction she'd been hoping for. They all scrambled up and out the back. Nancy moved to put her coat on, but she noticed one little girl she hadn't seen earlier still sitting. "Come on baby, you've got to go, okay? It's just like a game, it's just like chasing. Take your coat, go on." And the little girl hopped up and did as she was told.

The Doctor had wandered back into the hallway looking at the door where the not-child continued to call for his mummy. He cautiously walked towards the door. "Please let me in, mummy." And then there was a hand that stuck itself through the letterbox. It was an ordinary hand except for the little scar on the back of it, nothing to be a cause for major concern.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked it, not terribly sure why Nancy believed there was a reason to be terrified.

"Please let me in." The child repeated. Nancy came in at that moment and threw a vase at the door, making the child pull his hand back.

"You mustn't let him touch you." She warned.

Well that was an odd warning. "What happens if he touches me?"

"He'll make you like him."

"And what's he like?"

Nancy didn't answer him, only stepped back. "I've got to go."

But the Doctor wasn't done. "Nancy, what's he like?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him. "He's empty." The phone rang, breaking the silence that followed Nancy's declaration. "It's him. He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor picked up the phone, it was the child. "Are you my mummy?" Nancy snatched the phone from him and slammed it down, effectively hanging up. Instead of another call, the radio turned on. Music started to play, but there was a voice speaking over it. "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." It was now safe to say that the Doctor was creeped out. He walked over to the radio and turned the tuner. But he stopped when a toy monkey that had been sitting harmlessly on the ground, came to life. "Mummy, mummy, mummy?" The monkey chimed.

Nancy took one last look at him. "Stay if you want to." And she left. As soon as she was gone, the monkey fell limp and a small hand reappeared in the letterbox slot.

"Please let me in, mummy." The Doctor knelt in front of the box, staring at the small hand with concern. "Pease let me in." The child begged.

"Your mummy isn't here." The Doctor said.

There was a pause. "Are you my mummy?"

"No mummies here. None here but us chickens." He looked around and remembered that he was alone in the house. "Well this chicken." He grinned.

"I'm scared." The child informed him.

"Why are those other children frightened of you?"

He should've expected to get no answer. "Please let me in. I'm scared of the bombs."

The Doctor pondered the situation. "Okay, I'm opening the door now." The child took his hand back. The Doctor stood up and swung the door open, but nobody was there. He stepped outside, but the street was utterly empty.

-9-

Jack stared at the girl in front of him. She had spunk, he found her dangling from a balloon and he rescued her, which didn't seem to faze her in the least. Then, he saved her, and instead of the gratitude he'd expected she'd stared him down all but demanding to know why he had a spaceship that was not from the time period. She was one to talk, her clothes screamed 'future.' But despite all of this, he liked her. She was a breath of fresh air. She wasn't drooling all over him, and stumbling over her words. Jack always knew he was good looking, and he loved it. But it could be a little tiring not being able to have civilized conversations with people. That's not to say this girl was immune to him. No, she blushed a little when she was in his arms and he saw her appreciative glances that she threw his direction. He threw his own glances, of course. The girl was gorgeous, a real knock out.

And her eyes, very unique but beautiful nonetheless. They were purple, which didn't wasn't common, but he knew they were her real eyes because they changed shades. When he first saw them they were dark with fear, but now with her staring at him, they were bright and shiny, like a gem. But there was something in them that made him more curious then anything. She hid it well, but it was there for those who knew how to look. Sadness, a crippling, deep, crushing sadness hidden so well it almost wasn't there at all. But he'd seen the look enough times to know it.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the girl spoke up. "Well." He realized he must've been in his own thoughts for quite some time. He grinned at her once more.

"It would be rude of me to continue to refer to you as 'girl' in my head, so before I answer your question, might I get your name?"

She narrowed her eyes before sighing. "My name's Jessa. Hello. Now answer the question."

"I can't, you didn't give me your name. Jessa's a nickname, I'd bet anything on it. Now I asked for your name not your nickname so." He trailed off, truthfully he didn't care all that much whether she gave her real name, he just liked this banter. It was fun.

Jessa looked about ready to punch him, but took a breath. "Well mister smartass, my name's Jessalyn. So, I repeat myself for what better be the last time. What are you doing with this ship?"

Jack shrugged. "I acquired it, freelancer I guess you could call me." He paused. "Not that you're one to talk, considering you're wearing clothes that won't be around for another few decades at least. I'm willing to bet Time Agent."

She shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. But he paid that no mind. She was definitely from the future. If she was a Time Agent then he could move according to plan, and if she wasn't well…..her company wasn't bad. Either way, a drink was in order. "Well Jessalyn…." He paused after her glare at using her real name. "Would you like to see the balcony?"

He didn't wait for her reply, only headed up the stairs, grabbing a bottle of champagne on the way. "Bring the glasses." He called back to her. He chuckled at the growl that she shot in his direction.

When they reached the roof, he pulled the cork out of the champagne. He turned to see Jessa staring at the ground, or lack thereof. Well obviously there was a ground, just invisible at the moment. "Freaked out?" He asked smugly.

Jessa smirked at him, seemingly over her shock. "It will take a lot more than that. I get the invisibility thing, but I was wondering, why park here?" She gestured to Big Ben that was behind them.

"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." He grinned and she laughed. A wonderful sound. Yes, he decided as he poured them a drink, he liked this girl.

-9-

After looking for the child to no avail, the Doctor followed Nancy, determined for some answers. It was relatively easy and found her in a small house pulling food out of her bag. He stood in the doorway, just watching until she turned around, sensing him. "How'd you follow me here?" She asked him.

"I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it." There, an answer that was not an answer. She'd been doing that all night, it was his turn.

Nancy wasn't having any of that. "People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to."

"My nose has special powers." He remarked dryly.

"Yeah? That's why it's uh…." She trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?" The Doctor demanded again.

"Nothing! Do your ears have special powers too?" He knew that if Jessa was there, she would have laughed at that.

"What're you trying to say?" He asked calmly.

"Goodnight, mister." She turned to walk away.

"Nancy. There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" She turned to look at him. "The thing I'm looking for. The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Nancy hesitated before nodding. "There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell at the other end of Limehouse Green Station."

"Take me there."

She shook her head. "There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire…you'll never get through."

"Try me!" Her confidence in him was severely lacking. And knowing his luck, it was very likely Jessa would be there somehow, and if that child was as dangerous as Nancy said…..well things were about to get bad. Considering this child was probably the result of the bomb that is not in fact a bomb.

"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"

"I really want to know." He confirmed.

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."

"And who might that be?" He asked.

"The Doctor." That answer threw him for a loop. He furrowed his brow, very confused. He chuckled lowly, having no idea what was going on.

-9-

Jessa was staring at the clock in front of her. Jack was watching her. Both were drinking champagne. "You know," Jessa started. "it really is getting past my curfew, I need to get back."

Jack chuckled. "We're not done discussing business."

"I don't think we ever really started. You're up here to get me drunk, and you're doing an awful job at it." She teased him.

This earned a full blown laugh. "But seriously, are you authorized to negotiate with me?"

"Depends on who you ask, but I probably should discuss the matter with the man I'm with." The Doctor was probably worried and she didn't want him to do so when it was unnecessary.

"Man?"

"Jealous?"

"Of you? Never. Of him? Always." He didn't know why the banter with her was so much fun, but it was and he loved it.

He reached down and pressed a button on a remote, music started playing. She recognized it as 'Moonlight Serenade.' "Perhaps I could change your mind or your heart on this matter. Dance with me?" He asked her with his most charming grin, mirth dancing in his eyes.

She smirked. They both knew neither of them took this seriously, it was all in good fun. "Of course my charming gentleman." She stood up and curtsied and he bowed, both of them trying not to crack up. They danced in the light of Big Ben. It was nice, relaxing. The song ended.

"You've certainly swayed my opinion, perhaps we could do it again sometime." She told him while batting her eyelashes dramatically.

Jack chuckled at her little show, he was almost positive she wasn't a Time Agent, they were all too stuck up to be this fun, and he was pretty sure she knew that he knew she was faking. Ah well, he didn't want to part ways just yet, so they'd keep up the act a little longer. Just for fun. Anyone looking at them now would think they'd been best friends for years, but the two just clicked.

"This thing I've got, it's a Chula Warship, armed to the teeth. In two hours a bomb is going to fall on it. And it's obvious that you don't handle business, so let's find that friend of yours." She smacked him for that one, but her lips still twitched upwards.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to scan for alien tech."

She nodded. "We both know that this is nothing but a scam, but that's okay because I like you. So let's get going." He only nodded and shot her a grin. After all, if a Time Agent wasn't going to show, there was always time to have an adventure. He'd noticed the weird things going on in London lately, maybe he'd even help. One look at Jessa grinning cheekily at him, and he knew he would if she would.

-9-

The Doctor watched the bomb site through his binoculars. Nancy stood behind him looking around anxiously. "The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building?" She pointed towards a building behind the bomb. "That's the hospital."

The Doctor looked to where she had pointed. It was an ordinary building, nothing seemingly special. "What about it?"

"That's where the Doctor is. You should talk to him."

"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." He gestured towards the bomb site again.

"Talk to the Doctor first." Nancy recommended.

"Why?"

"'Cos then maybe you won't want to get inside." She started walking away, something she seemed to do a lot of with the Doctor around.

Without looking back, he called to her. "Where're you going?"

"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now."

There was a pause before the Doctor cleared his throat. "Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?"

Nancy was taken aback. "What?"

He lowered his binoculars and turned to face her. "The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cos you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." Okay that might've been a little harsh, but she answered.

"My little brother, Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell." She gestured at the bomb. "I told him not to follow me, told him it was dangerous, but he just…he just didn't like being on his own."

The Doctor looked at her sadly. "What happened?"

"In the middle of an air raid, what do you think happened?"

The Doctor nodded, but then he smiled. Which as he thought about it, probably seemed very inconsiderate but it was too late now. "Amazing."

Nancy looked a little hurt at that. "What is?"

"1941. Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny damp little island says 'no.' A mouse in front of an island. You're amazing, you lot. Off you go then…..do what you've got to do. Save the world." He walked towards the hospital after shooting her a smile.

The gate was easy enough to unlock, as long as you had a sonic screwdriver, which he fortunately did. He walked inside of the bleak hospital and took the first hall that led to a ward. What he saw, surprised him to say the least. Rows upon rows of people, lying on beds, wearing gas masks. Every single one of them seemed completely lifeless. He slowly backed out and walked to another ward, the difference was this one being lit. More rows of people, exactly the same as the others. He sat and stared until he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see an old man, looking grim.

"You'll find them everywhere. Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them."

"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?"

"They're not. Who are you?"

He wasn't sure how to answer that one. The man didn't think they were wearing gas masks, he was either senile or he was correct and something very wrong was happening. "I'm uh…are you the doctor?"

The man nodded in confirmation. "Doctor Constantine, and you are?"

"Nancy sent me." Best not to answer the man's question.

"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."

"Yes."

"What do you know about it?" The man was getting suspicious. Great.

"Nothing." Mostly true. "Why I was asking. What do you know?"

"Only what it's done."

The Doctor thought he knew what Constantine was talking about. "These people, were they all caught up in the blast?"

"None of them were." Apparently he was wrong, and like usual he knew absolutely nothing. Constantine laughed at his own joke, but the laugh turned into a harsh cough. He sat down in a chair and tried to catch his breath.

"You're very sick." The Doctor noted.

"Dying, I should think, I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?"

"I have my moments." Inwardly he grinned at his own joke.

Constantine nodded towards the patients. "Have you examined any of them yet?"

"No."

"Don't touch the flesh."

"Which one?"

"Any one." The Doctor raised his eyebrows at that, this just kept getting more confusing. He pulled out his sonic and walked up to one of the patients. He scanned the patient. "Conclusions?"

He listed everything he found. Including the weird problem with the gas masks being attached to the people's faces. "Examine another one." Constantine prodded.

He followed the order, except…"This isn't possible."

He ran to another one, scanned them. Same thing. "This isn't possible!"

"No." Constantine agreed.

"They've all got the same injuries!" The Doctor yelled. This shouldn't happen.

"Yes." Constantine remained calm, as this wasn't new information.

"Exactly the same!"

"Yes."

He couldn't wrap his head around it. "Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand. How did this happen? How did it start?"

"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."

"Dead?"

"At first. The next morning, every single person who had touched the boy, they all got the exact same injuries. After that, every patient in the ward, exact same injuries. Physical injuries, working as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma."

"No."

"Asphyxiation."

"No."

"The collapse of the chest cavity."

"No."

"Alright, what was the cause of death?"

"There wasn't one." Cue brow being furrowed even more. "They're not dead."

He hit his cane against the bin nearby. Every single patient sat up simultaneously. The Doctor looked around, now very alarmed. "It's alright. They're harmless. They just…..sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."

"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" He needed to see the bomb, this shouldn't happen. This couldn't be possible. Something about the bomb must've been different. The bodies lied down again, as though they never got up.

"I try to make them comfortable, what else is there?"

"Just you? You're the only one here?"

Constantine nodded. "Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor."

"Yeah, know the feeling." He almost chuckled at himself that time.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."

The Doctor took a look around. "Probably too late."

That gained him a vehement shake of the head. "No. They are isolated cases, but isolated cases breaking out all over London." He coughed again, worse than the last time. "Stay back, stay back!" He commanded. "Listen to me…top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim-the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

"Nancy?" What'd she have to do with this?

"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi…mi…" He gagged and grabbed at his neck. "M….mu…..mee…."

The Doctor watched in concern. The man in front of him seem to be fighting something. "Are…..you…..my…m..mummy?" The Doctors eyes widened in horror at that statement. They got impossibly wider when a gas mask started protruding from Constantine's mouth. Soon, he looks just like every other patient in the hospital. He was going to go to room 802 when he heard voices.

"Hello?" It was a man, probably in his twenties.

"Hello?" That was without a doubt Jessa. He'd recognize her voice from anywhere, no matter what.

He left the room towards the voices. He walked into a hallway to see Jessa walking arm in arm with some man he didn't recognize. When she saw him, her face brightened and she left his side to give him a hug. One which he returned with equal enthusiasm. "Hello, Doctor. Fancy meeting you here."

"Where have you been?" He looked over her worriedly.

"Touring London, with this man over here." The man in question chuckled. The Doctor narrowed his eyes fractionally.

"And just who is this man?"

"Jack Harkness, a pleasure." The now dubbed Jack, put out his hand. The Doctor shook it with more force than was probably necessary.

"Jack over here is the most likely reason all of this is happening, and now he's here to atone for his mistakes, and of course to be in my wonderful company. He brought something he claims to be empty to this lovely Earth and that something is the bomb sitting out front. He was going to con some Time Agents for taking years of his past from him, but we're working on that issue. For now let's focus on the problem at hand, as I'm sure you've already seen the creepy child around here somewhere." Jessa said all of this with a serious face until the very end when a grin broke over her face.

Jack laughed. "She pretty much summed it up, so now I suggest you tell us why you're here so then we can go find out how I screwed up by landing a piece of useless space junk here." Jack was somber at that thought. It took a bit of arguing but Jessa had convinced him that the useless piece of space junk was the most likely reason this was all happening. And he felt awful about it, but no time to wallow.

The Doctor was torn between yelling at this 'Jack' and asking how in the world these two met. But, he figured that if he yelled first, questions would not be answered. "Where did you pick up the stray?" He asked Jessa.

He got an eye roll along with an answer. "Jack here found me while I was taking a stroll around London." She didn't mention the barrage balloon and wouldn't have, but Jack snorted.

"More like flying around London." Jessa smacked the back of his head.

"Yes, but I wasn't going to mention that part."

The Doctor glanced at her curiously. "Flying?"

"Well I might have grabbed onto a conveniently placed rope to climb a building, and as it turns out the rope was attached to a barrage balloon. Beautiful really, can't say I'd recommend it as a regular form of travel."

The Doctors eyes widened and he was going to say something but Jessa cut him off. "No need to worry, it's all fine now. So, why are we here?" The Doctor sighed and showed them the patients he had found earlier, and they were just as shocked as he had been.

"But what could've done this."

The Doctor gave a pointed glare towards Jack, "Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." Jack had the decency to look ashamed.

All of the sudden, every single patient sat up, and every single one of them was repeating the word, "Mummy?"

They all backed away. "This got very creepy all of the sudden, what's going on?" That was from Jessa, directed at anybody who might be able to give an answer.

"I don't know."

"Well, that's really helpful, thanks a lot!"

"Now is really not the time to be sarcastic."

"Says the man who fights death with sarcasm. Hypocrite."

Jack called over to them. "Can you two have this little couple's argument later?"

"Don't be stupid Jack, we're not dating." That was from Jessa, as the Doctor made no move to argue the fact.

Then, as though it couldn't get any worse the gas mask people got up and started to surround the three. "Don't let them touch you." The Doctor warned. Jessa would've told him that she had no immediate plans to do so, but figured that now was not the time. The patients were only three feet away from them in any direction. They had no means of escape.

"Well, today could've gone better."


End file.
